Sunday's At One Part Two
by dinabar
Summary: Harry's on his way to New York, Nikki is in London with the promise of a weekly Skype date. As they discuss the week's events could it be that they grow closer rather than further apart? It follows along with Season 16 at times but hopefully with rather more smiles...because we need them.
1. Chapter 1 It's Up To You

**Welcome back! Sorry for my absence. This follows on from Sundays At One, but you can read it independently. This FF is their weekly conversations with tie-ins/spoilers for Season 16. Harry is still tormented by bad music karma especially from the lift in his new apartment building (shown as chapter subheadings) and Nikki is still holding everything together. **

**Silent Witness and characters belong to the BBC no infringement intended. I'm keeping everyone else, I hope you like them. Sorry for the long wait, I know I was mentally planning this out harvesting veg from the allotment last year and now it's time for planting again… Suspend your disbelief and SW depression and enter on in for a smile or two. (Well and a bit of angst here and there, you know me!)**

**We left Part One with H&N having the world's most stressful journey to the airport, leaving no time for goodbyes. Nikki just had time to hand Harry a present and he blurted out that he loved her and then ran for the check-in desk.**

* * *

**Sundays At One: Part Two**

**Chapter 1 It's Up To You**

_**Start spreading the news I'm leaving today.**_

Harry hurtled across the airport concourse towards the baggage check. He had checked in online the night before, booked his seat and meal, but there was still every chance that if the line at security was a long one, the gate would shut and he would not be ready to board. The baggage checker looked up sympathetically at his harassed face.

"You got stuck on the M4 too?" The badge on her lapel said 'Lola.'

"Me and most of the rest of West London," Harry agreed.

"Give me a minute," Lola said and fished her phone from her bag.

Harry stared dumbfounded as she appeared to start texting as she was checking in his baggage. He had managed to keep his cool in the car in all the traffic but now when the last few minutes were so precious he couldn't believe that this girl was making a phone call; and after she had already realised the reason for his delay. He dragged his hands through his hair and glared at her.

"Gary, you still got the shortest queue up your end?" he heard her say.

She swiftly put the phone back in her bag before too many of her colleagues noticed and smiled at Harry.

"I've just got a couple of security questions to ask you?" she said in the curious monotonous voice that all the check in technicians he'd ever dealt with seemed to have and then under her breath added. "Don't go through the middle to security, the queues are terrible, head right down to the end on the left hand side, there are more security lanes down that way and hardly anyone uses them, you'll be through in half the time. Gary'll look after you," she smiled.

Harry pulled his hands out of his hair and pulled the rant that was just about to spew out of his mouth into a jagged smile.

"Thank you," he said sincerely and then added. "I've packed them all myself, no one has given me anything to carry on for them and I'm not carrying any of the prohibited items from your list."

She had been busy snapping the tags on his luggage as Harry made his speech.

"That's all your baggage checked Dr Cunningham, have a good flight." Suddenly reduced to his jacket, one bag, a wallet, passport but no keys at all he felt strangely naked but there was no going back now. He turned left and followed the signs to security, his gate closed in fifteen minutes. He hoped it wasn't a long walk.

He didn't know whether it was Gary or not that had processed his carry-on, he was too busy removing his shoes, belt and anything and everything from his pockets. He was restuffing his pockets when he spotted two toddlers holding on to the conveyer belt on the other side of his one.

"Stay there and don't move!" commanded a voice from below the conveyor belt. Harry assumed it had to be their mother, who was also in the process of replacing her shoes, belt and other worldly possessions. He leaned over and saw the blond head struggling with three sets of laces. There was nothing other than the mother's command to stop those two children from running off and if they chose to run in opposite directions then the mother would be in real trouble.

Harry picked up one of the coins from his tray of belongings and pretended to make it disappear and reappear in the other hand. This raised a smile, so he repeated the trick but this time reappearing the coin out of his ear. This earned him a chuckle. He was just about to reappear the coin from his nose, when the mother stood up and looked from her children to the stranger. Harry tried smiling, and pretended to hit the back of his head to dislodge the coin from his nose, to the hysterical amusement of the toddlers. Suddenly the mother relaxed.

"Thank you," she said.

"It can't be easy travelling on your own with them," Harry added but she had already moved off. He hoped that this exchange was not going to be a forerunner to the new friendships he would have to make in the next few weeks.

It wasn't far to the gate, he did have to take the transit train thing but there was one waiting on the platform when he arrived and the plane began to board just as he arrived at the gate. When he finally made it to his seat on the plane, it was the first time had had sat down since leaving the car. He had been in such a rush he hadn't even considered what had gone on the other side of the airport doors.

He had told her he loved her! He'd said it before of course but this time was different, he wasn't winding her up, joking with her or trying to get her to do something for him that he didn't want to do himself. He didn't know where it had come from. It certainly wasn't how he had intended leaving her. It had just fallen out of his mouth without his brain even comprehending or realising what it was doing. What would she think of him? Would she believe him? Did he believe it? Wasn't it just sheer relief from making it through that hellish journey, or was it that she had just been so kind to him? Or maybe in that moment where he embarked on an entirely new life his perspective on his old life revealed his emotions with a startling clarity.

The ventilation on the plane was pumped up to maximum and the cold blasts of air were making his sweat soaked shirt freezing, so he pulled his jacket from the overhead locker to put across him as a cover. It was only then he felt the rectangular package in the pocket.

"No one has given me anything to bring on board," he recalled himself saying. She wouldn't have would she? Laced whatever this was with some nasty chemical, so the sniffer dogs would have a field day when he arrived at the other end and walked through security? He would understand if she had, but that wasn't her style, was it? He would probably have deserved it though. That really would be a 'welcome to America,' to remember. He opened the package to reveal a pocket sized guidebook to New York and relaxed. This wasn't a set up. Even now she had thought only of him. He flicked through from back to front his eyes fixing on the front page. Instead of quotation marks she had drawn a couple of quavers around each end of the Sinatra lyrics she had written.

"It's up to you,

New York New York," and then underneath the title,

"I love you too."

He closed the book and held it against him. The book had been wrapped, she must have written that before they left, before he had said what he had said, what he didn't even know he was going to say.

Did she know?

Did they both know?

Was she replying to when he had told her he loved her during one of those dreadful arguments they'd had weeks back? The one in her kitchen? She had never responded to him then but in the middle of a fight he was hardly surprised. He looked again at the words. They weren't words she could say to him; in all their years together she had never returned those words even in jest. He doubted she used those words with anyone and now here they were at the front of a guide book to a city he was going to without her.

"It's up to you." Why those words? And in what way was it up to him?

It was up to him what he chose to do with his future? Or it was up to him what he chose to do with the future of their relationship? He felt the plane judder as the engines emitted the sudden burst of acceleration to race it down the runway. He stared straight ahead and gripped on to the arm rests.

"If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere. It's up to you, New York New York!" ran through his head as he felt the plane lift into the air. The plane banked sharply to line up on its flight path giving Harry a panoramic view of London growing smaller below him.

"Nikki," he sighed and closed his eyes.

**New York New York: Frank Sinatra**


	2. Chapter 2 Bridge Over Troubled Water

**Chapter Two Bridge Over Troubled Water**

_**When you're weary, Feeling small, When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all.**_

He was hoping to sleep on the journey. He hadn't slept properly for days but that was nothing new. He hadn't expected to sleep at all at Nikki's the night before but he had fallen into an exhausted dead sleep after midnight. She hadn't wanted to go out, or do anything. They hadn't even had a take away just said good night and gone to their separate rooms after watching the news. He had another six hours flight time. He couldn't concentrate on any of the films, with the headphones in the music and explosions were too loud and the dialogue too quiet but he needed to quieten his brain somehow so he flicked through the radio channels. There was a Simon and Garfunkel retrospective. That would do.

It was about fifteen minutes into the programme he remembered where he'd heard the album before. He'd thought the simple lyrical style would calm his shattered nerves but they had only added to his gnawing sense of unease and now he knew why. He'd heard the music before; Bridge over Troubled Water was a classic album, but it was released a year before he was born. It had suddenly come to him, a flashbulb memory of a freezing school minibus, track suited boys and Mr Leveson.

Mr Leveson the geography teacher; he was always the one to drive the school minibus to the rugby matches and he always had that tape in the cassette player. No wonder the music was making him nervous; it reminded him of being taken away to somewhere he didn't want to go where in all likelihood he was going to be made to look stupid. He hated rugby but it was a small school and you needed fifteen sacrificial lambs plus substitutes so more often than not Wednesday afternoons were spent in the minibus with Simon and Garfunkel and Mr Leveson. But as he listened to the background story of the album he was surprised to learn that despite the beautiful and complementary mix of music and voices; the two artists were at each other's throats most of the time during the making of the album. How could such beauty arise from such a brokeness?

He was overthinking again. Fortunately they stopped talking about it and began to play the album.

"_Like a bridge over troubled water_

_I will ease your mind"._

He looked out of the window, there was sea, sea and more sea below him, he sighed. He'd gone and burned his bridge. Hadn't he? He pulled his new guide book out of the seat pocket in front and held it to his face. It smelled of new book; nothing else. He opened it and tried to read up about the area around NYU but found it impossible to concentrate. The album continued to play in his ears but as soon as 'Bye Bye Love, Bye Bye Happiness' started he switched it off and stared blankly at the plane tracker screen and before long he was asleep.

The advent of the ESTA meant that the last half hour of the flight was not spent with frantic cabin crew trying to doll out green and white cards to the occupants of the plane, the colour of card dependant on their nationalities and even more frantic passengers ticking the boxes that claimed they were not entering the United States to commit heinous crimes, nor had they diseases of public health significance, were Nazi's or convicted war criminals and so despite tracking the progress of the plane on the screen in front of him, Harry was surprised when he heard the Captain announce they were making their final approach. He changed his watch to Eastern Standard Time and looked out the window, seeing first land and then buildings and then roads and rivers come into focus.

This was it. He was here.

"_It's up to you, New York New York."_

He knew better than to attempt humour with the border control guards despite there being 24 entry lanes for US citizens and 4 for anyone not travelling on a US passport. The queue was enormous but he made no comment. The land of the free and the home of the brave; but only if you were prepared to play by their rules.

"Professor Cunningham!" his new boss greeted him as he made his way into the arrivals hall.

"Professor Volosin," Harry held out his hand to his new boss.

"Glad you're here, call me Scott."

"Harry. I'm glad to be here too, I had a terrible journey to the airport, only made the gate with seconds to spare."

"The flight was ok though?"

"The flight was fine."

"Man, they're gonna love your accent, you'll have the best attendance figures of us all. Do you have everything? I thought I'd drive you over to NYU and show you a couple of potential apartment buildings. You said you wanted to be close didn't you?"

"Err yes," Harry stumbled. "Now?" He checked his watch it said 4:30pm. It was going to be a long day.

"Sure now! The car is just over here; don't go getting in the wrong side now!"

"Welcome to America!" Professor Volosin added for good measure and opened the passenger door with a flourish.

"Thanks."

* * *

**Bridge over Troubled water: Simon and Garfunkel**

**Skype starts in the next chapter. Any good so far?**


	3. Chapter 3 I'll Be There

**Thanks for the reviews and thanks especially to Charlotte who inspired the whole Skype thing almost a year ago in her story: The Beauty of the End. And I did ask her before I stole her idea, so thanks for being gracious and sharing Charlotte.**

**"We have to Skype all the time," you order. "I'll set it up at work. It will be like having you back. New York is what, five hours behind? I can eat lunch while you're having breakfast."**

**So if you haven't read that, go read it!**

**This will eventually have it's own picture but can't get my latest one to register...any clues?**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**Sunday 26****th**** August 2012**

_**I'll be there**_: _**I know what you're thinking, you're alone now.**_

"Hi, Nikki Are you there?"

"Harry?"

"I can't hear you?"

"Hang on, I'll try and dial in again."

Nikki sat at her laptop, waiting for Skype to burble its ringtone at her. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad.

"Ah that's better," she said as the connection held this time. "How are you?"

"Not, bad, it was only the day before yesterday when you saw me."

"I know," she smiled.

"Thanks for taking me to the airport. What a journey!" he paused unsure of what to say next. "Sorry,"

"It's not your fault, there were four cars involved in total, three fatalities. They've not come to us though. I'm glad you made it in time."

"It was still touch and go," he paused. "Thanks for the guide book."

"You're welcome, I thought it might be useful."

"Yes, it is," he agreed. He didn't mention the inscription and he didn't mention his words either.

"I'll take it everywhere with me," he said, hoping that covered his meaning.

"So what's it like?" Nikki asked.

"Hot…busy…noisy. I've got this hotel room for another night and then hopefully I'll have an apartment sorted by then. I looked at a couple yesterday."

"And?" Nikki asked but over the top of Harry's voice, the digital delay not registering quickly enough.

"Sorry?"

"What?"

"You go first," Nikki concluded. This Skype might be free but it wasn't easy.

"Well I saw two apartments, one was really smart even had a view over the East River."

"But,"

"It didn't have a kitchen! There was a microwave and a miniature sink; that was it. I asked the estate agent or realtor or whatever they are called and they just said that many young professionals found they didn't need a kitchen so in the interests of space they didn't put them in."

"Sounds perfect Harry, it's not like you cook."

"I can't rent a flat with no kitchen! It's just not right. "You have to have a fridge don't you?"

"Apparently not," Nikki replied.

"I at least need somewhere to keep the milk for my cereal," he added hastily, this talk of fridges was taking them off in a dark direction.

"Hmm you might be disappointed there unless you're into Cap'n Crunch or Fruit Loops I don't remember cereal being a forte."

"What? I thought they invented cornflakes!"

"Anyway Harry, we were talking about apartments not the woeful lack of nutritious and healthy breakfast cereals."

"The other one was ok, the neighbourhood seemed fine. I could walk to work, I could even walk to Central Park, the realtor said that this was the only place in America where people did still walk, so I should be ok."

"Make sure you cross at the crossings then,"

"Pardon?"

"They get a bit shirty about crossing where there's not a crossing."

"Really? Nikki how do you know all this stuff?"

"I pay attention Harry, you should try it someday. Have you been into the office yet?"

"Not yet, I'm going in on Monday. Apparently we all share a big open plan office area; professors aren't allowed to hole up in their studies any more. There were too many harassment claims so all supervisions and meetings have to be done in public now."

"Poor you, there goes your first batch of twenty-somethings and your dreams of a quiet life."

"You know that's not why I came don't you."

"Yes, I know," she smiled.

"So all quiet there?"

"Yep. Nothing to report. Leo phoned to check you got off alright.

"You mean Leo phoned to see how you were?"

"I was exhausted and I'd only sat in the traffic for a couple of hours. You must have been catatonic."

"I got a bit of sleep on the plane." He smiled at her. He may have asked Nikki to watch out for his mum, and he knew he didn't have to ask Leo to do the same for Nikki but he'd asked anyway. Leo had harrumphed in the way that Leo did when Harry said something he thought was ridiculous but he had promised nonetheless and he had obviously kept his word.

Did the man come about the car?" Harry asked.

"He's due in about half an hour. I should go really.

"It's good to see you Nikki, talk to you next week?"

"Next Sunday,"

"At one?"

"Next Sunday at one."

They both paused then and looked at each other. Nikki had banned the word 'bye' before he had gone. Harry held up his hand and waved at her.

"See you next week," he said.

"I'll be there. Next week," she smiled back.

* * *

**I'll be there: The Four Tops**


	4. Chapter 4 Promised Land

**Chapter Four **

**Sunday 2****nd**** September 2012**

_**Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin' And the poor boy's on the line.**_

"Hi Harry, are you alright?" Nikki began, as Harry's bright red face registered in the viewing window of Skype on her laptop.

"Yes, I've just been out for a run."

"Already?"

Harry nodded vigorously, plastering his sweaty hair back out of his eyes.

"It's a bit early isn't it?" There was still no reply from Harry.

"Oh, you're not over the jet lag yet. Blimey Harry it's been over a week!"

"It's just…" Harry didn't finish.

He'd enjoyed the run, it felt familiar despite the new surroundings but it was sweltering out there. Harry was glad he'd missed most of August, the humidity and all the concrete and the American's measuring temperature in Fahrenheit still, it just made it seem worse when the numbers were over 100.

"Well I'm expecting the grand tour you know," Nikki insisted. "Did you tidy up?"

"I only moved in on Monday!"

"And!"

"I've been at work a lot, no time to mess it up." He grinned and Nikki laughed. The Skype timing making it appear they each had their own private joke they were laughing at rather than laughing together.

"Come on then."

Nikki saw Harry's face loom closer to the webcam as he picked up his laptop and turned it around to give her the tour of his apartment. He took her to the kitchen first.

"Look!" he said proudly scanning the computer across the kitchen and opening a cupboard to reveal a box of Kellog's Special K and Low Fat Granola.

"Hmm, it looks ok. Have you actually tasted it?"

"S'not that bad," he mumbled but the Skype skittered.

"What?"

"What?"

"I'll live," conceded Harry. "At least I found out in the hotel that the Cheerio's here taste different.

"What could go wrong with Cheerios?" Nikki asked incredulously.

"Don't ask! Anyway I have a kitchen. He moved the computer around to reveal the oversized fridge and the 'insinkerator.'

"You will be careful won't you?"

"Nikki!" Harry laughed again. "It's good to talk to you."

"So on with the tour," Nikki insisted before they stopped to really think more.

"Here's the living space, I've hired the furniture; apparently it's what people do here."

"Looks nice, the sofa looks…" Nikki stopped the word wasn't cosy the word was 'just like the old one,' "familiar," she finished.

"Here's the bedroom, and look the phone is right next to the bed,"

"It looks nice Harry,"

"Thanks,"

"How's the shower?"

"Oh they do the shower thing over the bath, but the pressure is ok. Now here's the best bit, hang on I'm going to lean you out the bedroom window."

"What?"

"It's ok we're only ten floors up. Can you see? If you look right down there, down the street right to the end you can just see the flags flying from the UN building."

"I'll take your word for it Harry, can I come in now?"

"It makes a change from all the Stars and Stripes wherever you look, even if I can't make out what flags they are it reminds me that there are other countries in the world." Harry moved back to his sofa and sat his computer on his lap.

"You don't have a massive flat screen TV," Nikki commented.

"No, not yet…I might not. Not if the TV at the hotel was anything to go by. I can't understand the sport, the rest have ad breaks every three minutes I couldn't tell when it was the programme and when it was the adverts and the 'News?' It was all opinion and no fact."

"Oh"

"I might get one of those things so my computer will pick up the BBC."

"What so you can still wake up to John Humphreys every morning?"

"He's not on EVERY morning!" Harry pouted.

"You have to try Harry."

"Try what?"

"To fit in, to get used to it."

"I know, just all the noise, the accents they hurt my ears sometimes."

"You'll be fine."

"How did you get on about the car?" he said changing the subject.

"Yes, the car…"

"Nikki?"

"Did you sell it?"

"Not exactly."

"Come on Nikki, what do you mean?"

"I got the bloke to come to work, rather than meet at my house; I thought it would be safer."

"Prudent," Harry agreed.

"He said his wife wanted something a bit smaller."

"Oh, but what do you mean by not exactly if he didn't want it?"

"Well he said he wanted something smaller, and we were at work and he saw my car parked next to yours and …"

Nikki waited.

"You sold him your car,"

"I did."

"Are you going to buy mine?"

"Are you going to sell it to me?"

There was a long pause.

"How much did you get for yours?"

"Nine grand."

"Not bad…"

"I'm sorry Harry."

"It's ok Nikki, you can have mine and send me the money for yours. We'll have to fill in the DVLA forms though."

"You don't mind?"

"No. You ok?"

"Fine, Harry. You know you should really take a shower before you stink up your new flat!"

"Thank you so much. So skype does have the advantage of you not being able to smell me eh?"

"Something like that,"

"Next week then."

"Next Sunday."

They did their little wave thing and smiled.

"Next Sunday."

* * *

**Promised Land: Chuck Berry (also sung by Elvis)**


	5. Chapter 5 Somebody Told Me

**Chapter Five **

**Sunday 9th September 2012**

_**Cause heaven ain't close in a place like this, I said heaven ain't close in a place like this.**_

* * *

"Hang on Harry; I'll just get my sandwich."

"Excuse me?"

"What?" said Nikki with a mouthful of food.

"It's only been three weeks, and I'm getting side-lined into a something to do whilst you're eating lunch, thanks a bunch!"

"Look Harry, I'm on call, do you want to talk or not?" Nikki pouted and offered the sandwich to the webcam.

"That's not egg mayonnaise is it?"

"Yep, I know you hate it!"

"Well keep it on your side," Harry insisted; forgetting for an instant that Nikki was across an ocean and not just across the desk.

"How was work?" she asked after a pause.

"Well they all seem a bit subdued at the moment."

"Why's that?"

"I'm hoping it'll pick up next week."

"Why what's next week? Obama isn't doing some big campaign speech at NYU is he or do you get the other fella?"

"No, it's September 11th."

"Ah."

"But what's with the office? Your email was intriguing."

"Well I'm not sure I figured it all out, but in our office we have the Chair of Medical Sciences Professor Volosin, he came to meet me at the airport. Then there are all the vice chairs of the different areas: physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, pathology etc. etc. and then all their PA's and the other professors, everyone's a professor here."

"So you're not just a professor?"

"No,"

So what are you….a vice chair?"

"Yep!"

"Do you have a particular vice each or is it just you?"

"Ha ha! Well it seems that the vice chair of biochemistry has a number of vices, or maybe just one he indulges in a lot."

"Tell me more!" Nikki said eagerly, wiping mayonnaise from her lip.

"The vice chair of biochemistry was having an affair with one of the pharmacology professors, but his wife found out."

"How did his wife find out?" Nikki interrupted.

"It was a bit obvious having an office romance when his wife was in the same office and was the vice chair of pathology before I got there."

"OH! That's why the job suddenly came up!"

"Yes again, have you finished that sandwich yet? You're making me queasy."

"So what then,"

"Well all was quiet for a while, Mr Vice-Chair of biochemistry's wife kicked him out and got a new job. He stayed with his pharmacology professor mistress until he started sleeping with one of the PA's from physiology."

"Oh ho ho, blimey Harry, what have you walked in on? How did she find out?"

"HE found out, when mistress number one from pharmacology poured bleach into his prized fish tank."

"Just another boring day at the office then!" Nikki smiled with not a small amount of schadenfreude.

"It's not funny, Nikki. It's like a warzone in there!"

"Well, if you want my advice, I'd keep clear of the biochemistry department in its entirety."

"Easier said than done."

"How did you find it all out?"

"I took my PA out for lunch last week."

"Oh Harry, not you as well!"

"NO!"

"Is she nice?"

"She's lovely Nikki, but she's 55 and has four grandchildren."

"Oh,"

"Did you get the car stuff sorted?"

"Yes, I swapped all the details over, only had to forge your signature once. Oh Leo says 'hi'"

"Is he ok?"

"He's Leo."

"Is he still on his own?"

"Yes."

"And you?" Harry asked.

"Still just me." Nikki replied. "Oh Harry, if I were you, I'd make sure when you do date someone; it's not someone from work."

"Thanks for that!" he said sarcastically. "Nikki?"

"Yes," she answered nervously.

"You said you knew stuff."

"I know stuff Harry, I know lots of stuff; what stuff do you need? What trousers not to wear with that shirt you've got on? The names of all the muscles in the face? Who the celebs are going to be on Strictly this year? What do you mean stuff? They're not threatening to make you teach anthropology are they?"

"No, nothing like that."

"What then?"

"Do you know why there's always steam billowing out the pavements here? It's really unnerving."

"Erm, is it something to do with the underground?"

"I don't know Nikki, that's why I was asking you."

"Did you google it?"

"I asked you," he pouted and Nikki's face broke into a smile. He was just enjoying hearing her giggle in that deep throated way of hers, when another noise drowned it out.

"What's that noise, Nikki?" But it became obvious as he saw Nikki pick up her mobile and scribble down an address. She must have changed her ringtone. It was odd watching her work, watching her when she wasn't aware of him. He used to do it all the time, he remembered with a stab of regret. Maybe she'd find someone soon. He'd not been gone a month yet. There was still time, and she looked happy enough. He could see the look of concentration come over her face as she listened to the details of the case and then back at him as she realised he was still there. She ended her call.

"Sorry Harry."

"Work?"

"Work." She confirmed.

"Anything juicy?"

"Harry! No just a suspected suicide."

"Sorry," he replied sincerely, neither of them liked suicides.

"I'll catch you next week then."

"You know where I am."

They waved at each other.

"Sunday?" Harry asked.

"At one!" she replied and disconnected.

Harry typed in his question to Google. Oh 'steam heating,' he said to his computer despite the fact that Nikki had already disconnected. And then added, 'Steam heating? It's September!'

* * *

**Somebody Told Me: The Killers**

**Hope you liked the first of the Skypes...lots more to come. **


	6. Chapter 6 It's a Jungle Out There

**Chapter Six **

**Sunday 16****th**** September**

_**It's a jungle out there, Disorder and confusion everywhere, No one seems to care, well I do.**_

"Hi Nikki, Thanks for your email." Harry smiled.

"It was nice wasn't it," Nikki replied. "Mrs Golding needn't have but she was obviously grateful for all you did for her."

"It was good we went over the evidence again before I left."

"I know, I was wrong." Nikki admitted.

"But I wouldn't have figured it out without you."

"That's because I'm much more intelligent than you are," she snapped back.

"Of course you are," he agreed. "It's steam heating," he added.

"Pardon?"

"The reason that steam comes out of the floor, it's all piped from somewhere."

"Well it's clearly not very efficient!" she laughed. "So you googled it then."

"I had to, you couldn't tell me the answer!"

"Have you started your lectures yet? Our new bunch seem a bit of a motley crew, it must be all that grade inflation rubbish, take their technology away and half of them wouldn't be able to write their address!"

"Nikki, you're just being mean. You always hate the new students but by the time it's Christmas you love them all, it's the same every year. The new students are about the only people you don't connect with immediately."

"So what are yours like?"

"American?"

"Err yes."

"I don't know they just seem rather unprepared for life in some ways. A lot of their previous work has centred on how many facts they can cram into their heads and then regurgitate; there were a few aghast faces when I left them a problem and told them to think it out for themselves. They kept asking me what page in the book they had to look at. Surely they've had to think for themselves before?"

"I don't know Harry. No one's complained have they?"

"No not yet. Well; just keep going and show them how it's done properly. How's the office politics?"

"You mean the office soap opera? I tell you I'm not missing not having a TV, I have a desk near the corner and I can see out across them all, it's like looking across an African plain. I'm still working out who are the lions and who are the zebra's but with Ruby's help I'll get there."

"Ruby?"

"My secretary or PA or whatever you like to call her."

"The one with the grandchildren?"

"That's the one."

"What are you?"

"Me?"

"Crocodile, elephant, mongoose, vulture?"

"That's not very complimentary," Harry laughed.

"Vultures are great; they are nature's original recyclers!" Nikki claimed. "They just get a really bad press."

"I wonder why?"

"I'm whatever animal sits in the corner and watches…" Harry said.

"That would probably make you a hippo," Nikki laughed.

"Do you mind?"

"Hippo's are great, they can be super vicious when threatened; more people are killed by hippo's than any other African animal."

"You are really not making this sound any better?"

She smiled.

"Why am I discussing hippos with you at eight in the morning on a Sunday?"

"Because you have nothing better to do," she goaded.

"And?"

"You started it," she laughed.

The Skype had been behaving today; the conversation was free and easy with no digital blips.

"So what else have you been up to?"

"I've tried a few places to eat out and some bars. The Chinese food here is really good. How about you? Oh and there's an amazing Jewish deli on the corner."

"Busy mostly. I did stop at Mr Li's the other night. He said he missed you and last month's profits were down considerably and he was blaming your moving away."

"You are making that up!" Harry cried incredulously.

"I'm not! Why would I make up something like that?"

Now it was Harry's turn to smile.

"Leo's getting stressed about the Lyell. He thinks he's had enough of being a paper pusher, he wants to be back in the lab more." Nikki explained.

"Well that's useful, he wasn't expecting you to do all the work was he? Is he looking for anyone else?"

"I've seen a few people around, but Leo hates interviewing, you know what he's like."

"I guess it's too much to ask for someone else to break into the morgue with a toothbrush and take up residence…"

"It is an unorthodox way of getting a job, I'll admit that."

"Unorthodox? I hope Leo's not waiting for it to happen again, I mean lightning doesn't strike the same place twice."

"Yes it does."

"Nikki, you are impossible! Anyway I only asked Leo to let you stay when I saw how good your hockey skills were."

She chuckled her throaty little chuckle.

"I'd forgotten about that, you were crazy back then weren't you?"

"Focused," he suggested.

"I never knew you begged Leo to let me stay."

"I did not say I begged Leo, I said I asked Leo!"

She chuckled again to show she was winding him up.

"You ARE impossible Nikki!"

She smiled up at him. "Glad you left?" she teased.

"Yes!" he pouted and then looked at her and shook his head a little.

"I miss you," he said more seriously.

"I miss you too."

"Same time next week then?" he asked uncertain of how to carry on the conversation.

"Sunday at one."

"Til then then." He said and waved.

* * *

**It's a Jungle Out There: Randy Newman**

**The Golding Case feature briefly in Sunday's At One Part One and was the trigger for a big row between H&N.**


	7. Chapter 7 Now And Then

**Chapter Seven **

**Sunday 22****nd**** September**

_**Pardon me, if I'm sentimental, When we say goodbye**_

"Nikki? Nikki? This connection is rubbish again; I'm taking you in the kitchen."

"Sorry?"

"I'm taking you in the kitchen!"

"I should be so lucky," Nikki pouted back but the speed of the Skype just didn't work for raised eyebrows and innuendoes.

"Are you sleeping any better?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

There was a sudden view of the ceiling as Harry sat up on the countertop and juggled the computer onto his lap.

"That's better, what no sandwiches this week?" Harry peered towards the webcam. "Nikki are you dressed?"

"No. I didn't get home until 3. RTA on the Marylebone Road, the whole thing was a disaster. I didn't get up until an hour ago and have been in the bath ever since."

"How's my car?"

"It's my car now, you sold it to me remember?"

"Hmm?" he muttered for the second time in as many minutes.

"It's fine Harry, I like it.

Have you got plans for the day?"

"I thought I might go in to the art museum."

"Are you ill?"

"What, I can't enjoy the art museum?"

"There's something more," Nikki said narrowing her eyes.

"What?" Harry pouted back.

"Tell me!" she commanded.

Harry didn't reply.

"Tell me!" she repeated.

"You do know now, that I can just turn you off whenever I want to." He hovered his finger in front of the webcam.

"You wouldn't dare!" she laughed. "So what's with the museum interest, you're in the most exciting city on Earth apparently, you can't have exhausted all it has to offer in under a month! You have still got the guide book I gave you?"

"No and Yes of course I still have the guide book," Harry admitted. "What are you doing?" Harry was aware that even though he could see Nikki studiously looking towards the screen, her face was even more disconnected than normal and her fingers were flying across the keyboard.

"Aha!" she cried looking straight into the camera. "The third Sunday of the month is singles afternoon at the MET! Good luck!"

"You can be really annoying sometimes you know!" Harry smiled. "What about you, any singles at your MET beating a path to your door?"

"There was a detective came through this week, he seemed nice…"

"and…"

"He was married. Only he didn't wear a ring; played havoc with his eczema apparently."

"Sorry."

"So what are you looking for this afternoon?"

"Well if I'm in luck plenty of beautiful women partially clothed or naked."

"Those will be the paintings Harry; you can't talk to those,"

"I have to talk as well?"

"Try not to chat up any of your students."

"Oh, there's no chance of that. The classes are small. It's not like giving a lecture in the Percival Building. There are only fifteen in each group so I'm getting to know them all."

"And how are they?"

"Still American,"

"That does go with the territory Harry." Nikki said and yawned.

"Am I keeping you up?" he asked.

"No, I should probably go to work anyway. I hope you meet someone nice."

"I'll try."

"I'll talk to you next week Harry. "

"Next week."

They both waved and disconnected.

* * *

**Now and Then There's a Fool Such as I : Bill Trader (Elvis Presley)**


	8. Chapter 8 Burning Love

**Chapter Eight **

**Sunday 30****th**** September**

_**I'm just a hunk a hunk of burning love**_

"Woah, Harry, You look rough!"

"I love you too!"

"Did you have a good night?"

"Surprisingly yes, I really enjoyed it I went out with Jorge."

"Who?"

"Jorge, the doorman. We got talking when I first arrived because I called him George…"

"and…"

"He laughed at my accent and told me it was pronounced Horhay, and that if I didn't want to look like a total idiot I should start thinking carefully before opening my mouth, especially when it came to the letter j."

"So you two hit it off,"

"In a way,"

"I couldn't work out, why the lift always seemed to be playing the same songs whenever I got into it, day or night for a week or so at a time, it was always the same. It turns out, when he's not being a doorman Jorge is one of the more successful local Latino Elvis impersonators and he was learning the words to the songs one at a time for his act."

"So did you just go out with Jorge, or go and see his act?"

"A bit of both, we ended up in a karaoke bar so he did a few numbers. He said he couldn't do it properly without the suit but he sounded pretty good to me."

"Did you sing?"

"I'd like to go and see one of his shows, he really was good."

"Did you sing?" Nikki repeated.

"He says he gets the suits custom made, uses a fair chunk of his doorman's wages on them."

"Did you sing?"

"He's got the shoes too."

"Harry!"

"I did backing vocals for one of the numbers." Harry said quietly.

"Which was?"

Silence

"Harry! I'm going out with your mother next week, so you'd better spill the beans or there's all manner of things I might let slip to her…"

"Are you trying to blackmail me?"

She stared at him for a while, Harry wondered briefly whether the picture on Skype had frozen but then he heard,

"What did you sing?" and he knew it was just one of her hardest stares.

"_I'm just a hunk, a hunk of burning love!_ _I'm just a hunk, a hunk of burning love!"_ Harry sang.

"I think it probably sounded better when you'd have a few!" but she laughed despite herself.

"Jorge said it sounded good," Harry insisted.

"It sounds like a good night Harry."

"Thanks for going out with Mum,"

"That's alright, we're going to see the local amateur dramatic production of Chess."

"Chess?"

"It's a musical…big in the Eighties"

"Oh, good luck. I think I'll stick with a Colombian Elvis."

"It's your choice"

"Thanks," Harry smiled.

"How are you Nikki?"

"I'm ok. I had a date on Friday."

"Really?" Harry's interest suddenly renewed in the conversation.

"Yes, really!"

"And…"

"It was nice."

"That was it… nice…"

"We had drinks, Harry. That was it."

"And his name?"

"Rupert."

"You are kidding me!"

"No, I'm not and no he wasn't wearing a yellow checked scarf."

"Are you going to see him again?"

"Maybe? He's got my number.

"Good for you Nikki. The museum was a disaster. Way to desperate, or way to arty. I might try an Irish pub later, there's lots of those here."

"Is that entirely embracing you're new culture?"

"Who was talking about culture? I was talking about getting la…" Harry stopped abruptly.

"Have a good day, Harry." Nikki smiled.

"Aren't I supposed to be saying that to you?" Harry asked.

"They don't really say 'have a nice day?' do they?"

"Some do, and some get really shirty if you don't say 'hi, howareyou?' and even more shirty if you dare to reply? How can a country have a question as a greeting that you're not even supposed to answer?"

"Harry?"

"Yes, Nikki?"

"You wanted to go remember."

"Yes, I did," he said reaching out and touching the screen.

"Go back to bed Harry, you're getting maudlin and you look like you need to sleep it off a bit more!"

"Talk to you next week?"

"Sunday at one?"

"Sunday at one."

* * *

**Burning Love: Dennis Linde &Arthur Alexander (Elvis)**

**Any Elvis songs that appear at the top of a chapter are the ones that Jorge is playing and Harry is subjected to in the lift of his apartment building everyday.**

**Thanks to Baibe, Charlotte, Freya 82, Owl-eats-waffles, KiwiSWfan and greylostwho for reading and reviewing. Did I ever mention reviews make great birthday presents?**


	9. Chapter 9 I Know Him So Well

**Chapter Nine **

**Saturday 6****th**** October**

**I know Him So Well**

The small independent theatre was already packed as Nikki and Anne made it across the edge of the stage to take their place in the tiered seating.

"I was expecting a draughty village hall," Nikki admitted to Harry's mum.

"Oh just because it's amateur people make all sorts of assumptions. I sang with the group for years and we always pulled in a good crowd. That's how they know they'll have enough money to hire this place."

"You don't sing now?"

"I'm far too old for that now dear, and there aren't that many parts for a female bass," Anne gave a throaty cough. "I like to come and support them though; it should be a good night. Do you know the story?"

"I know it was big in the Eighties and is about the Cold War…oh and chess I suppose."

"That's right. You'll pick it up, it's not Shakespeare."

"That's a relief; you mean the boys aren't dressing up as girls and all falling in love with each other?"

"I don't remember any cross dressing…but the group does have a new director this year." Anne raised an eyebrow and laughed. "It is good of you to come. I know Harry put you up to it and you told him you would, but you didn't actually have to come."

"Of course I did!" Nikki said her face surprised at Anne's assumed duplicitousness on her part.

"I don't understand it." Anne admitted.

"What?"

"Why he decided to go. I'd assumed you'd had a falling out but I hear just as much about you since he's been gone as when you both worked at the Lyell. Do you know why he left? You do seem to know him so well?"

Nikki was silent for a while.

"It's not like you're going to tell me something I don't already know."

"Harry is…Harry is…"

"It's alright dear; I'm his mother I know exactly what he's like."

"Harry thrives on adrenalin, every new case gives him a kick to solve the mystery, to put the pieces of the puzzle together but once that's done he has little interest in tidying up the loose ends."

"You're telling me he's not a 'completer finisher' on that personality test," interrupted Anne.

"Exactly; he'd been at the Lyell a long time. I think he wanted to try something new."

"I know he gets bored easily, but I don't think that's it entirely," Anne said.

"He found it difficult when Professor Dalton started…" Nikki paused.

"Hmm, yes Harry said Leo had had some kind of break down, even broken up with his partner. That man was a good influence on Harry, I was sorry to hear about it. Is he better now?"

Nikki nodded.

"Are you sure there's nothing else?" Anne fixed Nikki with a steely gaze as she asked the question. First the raised eyebrow, and then the hard stare, Nikki was suddenly very aware just how alike mother and son were.

"I think he just wanted something new." Nikki said sadly.

'Something new or someONE new,' Anne thought but she knew better than to say it out loud. She knew precious little of his son's feelings and relationship with his beautiful colleague but the fact that she had kept her word and come out tonight spoke volumes for Nikki's feelings.

"I think he was just afraid of the birthday party the two of you were likely to give him." Anne said lightly aware of the change in Nikki's mood.

"Moving to America is a bit extreme, just to avoid a 40th birthday party," she smiled. "Maybe he just thought it was time to try something else?"

"Or maybe he was just running away… his father was thirty-nine when he died," Anne said. Nikki snapped her head round to see the expression on Anne's face, but at that moment the lights went down and a motley crew of lederhosen wearing villagers began the opening number.

Anne bought them both a glass of wine in the interval.

"Cheers," she said and raised her glass to Nikki's.

"Cheers," Nikki replied. "Are you enjoying it?"

"Oh, I think they're doing marvellously. I thought the woman playing Svetlana looked too old for the part, but her voice is just perfect, so I didn't look at her face so much after that. I'm sorry though."

"Whatever for?"

"I'd forgotten a lot of the story, and it would have been really insensitive of me to drag you to a play all about some young man who throws away his wife and life and everything he knows on the chance of a new and better life in a new country with a new woman. I mean if I suspected for an instant that you cared for Harry in anything more than a friendly way this would have been a terrible choice for a night out."

"Harry and I are friends." Nikki said calmly meeting Anne's Harry like gaze. "We've been through a lot together."

"That you certainly have,"

Nikki took another sip of her wine and walked back to her seat for the second half but couldn't help hearing the lyrics of the last song play through her mind.

"_Now I'm where I want to be and who I want to be_

_And doing what I always said I would and yet_

_I feel I haven't won at all._

_When the crazy wheel slows down._

_Where will I be?_

_Back where I started."_

* * *

**I know him so well:** **Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus**


	10. Chapter 10 Wasn't It Good?

**Chapter Ten **

**Sunday 7****th**** October**

_**Wasn't it good? Oh so good, wasn't it fine? Isn't it madness he can't be mine?**_

"How was Mum?"

"She seemed on good form. Not that I'm an expert or anything. She chatted to some of her friends after the show and the new director made a big show of her and thanked her for coming. Did she sing a lot before?"

"She was the mainstay of that group for years." Harry admitted.

"So why doesn't she sing now, she's not that old," Nikki asked.

"I don't know, time to move on I guess. I think she found it something to do after Dad died. Maybe she doesn't need it so much anymore. How was it? As I remember there was always some old crone who couldn't reach the high notes, and some part of the set would always fall over during one of the scenes. It was about the only thing that made going tolerable."

"No wonder she doesn't sing any more if you were always on the lookout for the 'old crone.'"

"Could be?"

"So you never joined the group?" Nikki asked.

"Me?" Harry replied with surprise in his voice.

"Don't you sing?"

There was a long pause on Harry's side of the screen.

"Are you still there or are we frozen again?"

"I'm here," he smiled.

"AND?" she insisted.

"I might have been a stand in pirate in the Pirates of Penzance once, but I was only supposed to be working the sound desk."

"Ah, the sound desk at the back with the geeks!"

"I always knew my place!"

Nikki laughed.

"So what act did the set fall down on? I always bet on the second." Harry asked.

"There was a slight hiccup, just before the interval when a telephone was supposed to ring and never did, and then started once the actor had picked it up."

"Perfect!" Harry laughed. "Nikki," he said more seriously. "Thanks for going."

"It's fine Harry. I quite enjoyed it really."

"But?"

"I didn't say but," Nikki countered.

"But?" Harry repeated.

"But nothing Harry, it was fine just leave it ok."

"But what was it?"

Nikki breathed deeply and closed her eyes briefly hoping the Skype would be too slow to pick up on the movement.

"What's the matter Nikki?" Harry asked quietly.

"It's nothing Harry; I had a good night out. Your mum was lovely the show was OK, very good considering they were all amateurs."

"Please tell me," Harry insisted aware that Nikki was yet to say what was actually bothering her.

"You're very like your mother," she said quickly.

She was waiting for his outburst, of 'what's that supposed to mean,' but it didn't come. She hadn't expected it herself, for an evening out with Harry's mother to remind her so much of Harry himself but he had been there in the looks his mother had given her, the phrasing of her speech and intonation of her voice. How could she explain that? And then there had been the songs. They still played over and over in her mind.

_But in the end he needs a little bit more than me, _

_More, security, _

_He needs fantasy and freedom, _

_I know him so well, _

She looked back at the screen to see Harry regarding her critically.

"I miss you too," he said.

"How was that Irish bar you were going to try?" Nikki added hastily changing the subject.

"Paddy Reilly's is ok but the music is really loud. Molly's is great and within walking distance but it got voted best Irish bar so it's always crowded… Nikki" he said changing the subject back again. "Thanks for going."

"That's ok, maybe we'll just do dinner next time and avoid the musical!"

"Probably a good idea," Harry laughed. "Did you hear back from Rupert?"

"No."

"Shame," said Harry but somehow he wasn't as sincere as he expected to be.

"I'll talk to you next week then?"

"Sunday at one."

"Sunday at one."

Harry disconnected and picked up the phone to call his mother.

* * *

**I know him so well: Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus**


	11. Chapter 11 One Broken Heart For Sale

**Chapter Eleven **

**Thursday 11****th**** October**

_**One Broken Heart For Sale**_

Harry tried Molly's again a few days later, sitting up at the bar on a stool. There was a fair mix of ages and genders; it was quieter on a Thursday night than the weekend he had tried before. The music wasn't too loud, Jorge had turned his nose up but then maybe Latino and Irish weren't the right blend of flavours.

He thought he was beginning to get the hang of his new surroundings. He loved his apartment building, loved the welcoming sight of all that bright red brick. It looked solid, established and bright not like the dire dark brown that just made British architecture even more depressing. It felt homely too, there was always a group of OAP's or seniors as they were known here, playing cards around the table in the large lobby, and even if Jorge wasn't on the door someone else was there to welcome him. It wasn't as if it was a doorman in some fancy outfit like in the films at the hotels that leap into the street and make taxi's appear by magic. It was just someone on the door to check the comings and goings of the place. His neighbour across the hall seemed to be slightly eccentric and had one of those tiny dogs that she carried everywhere in a little pouch with her. She was often playing cards with the seniors. She was easy to spot, the steel grey hair, astute eyes and odd choice of sports track suits she always seemed to wear despite her advanced age. But she always said hello to him and asked him about his day. She didn't appear to listen to his answer…but she did ask.

The 'music' in the lift or _elevator_ if he was trying not to stand out took a while to get used to. Once he had found out what Jorge the doorman was doing he didn't mind so much, but for the first few weeks, every time he stepped into the lift it was playing 'Now and then there's a fool such as I?' He was worried the music gremlin from his last weeks with Nikki had followed him to America.

There was also a good mix of people in the building: young professionals, older people that had been at the United Nations for decades and others who worked at NYU, even a few students. He'd not really done too many of the touristy trips, but he had taken the metro down to Battery Park and looked out over the Statue of Liberty. He had been up the Empire State Building but only because his students had laughed at him when he said he'd not done it yet. It was during the same seminar that he took off his jumper and placed it down somewhere only to forget exactly where he left it. The guffaws he received when he asked the class if they had seen it surprised him but one of the students had spoken to him at the end and mentioned that 'jumpers' were what little girls wore, often as part of a school uniform and that he should probably talk about his sweater in future unless he wanted to get a really eccentric reputation.

"I have a reputation?" he'd asked Chantelle the helpful student who had helped him with his vocabulary.

"Everyone has a reputation," she'd replied.

"And mine?"

"You're English, you have to be eccentric."

"But what if I'm not?"

"You're here aren't you?" Chantelle had retorted.

"But?" he'd questioned.

"Get used to it, even if you could change the accent to blend in, your teeth would always give you away…"and she had swept out of the room.

"My teeth?" Harry had puzzled.

It was then that he refocused on his present reality and noticed a commotion at the far end of the bar, an elderly man was banging loudly on the counter and one of the bar staff he recognised as Kelly was screaming and clutching on to him. Harry made his way towards the pair realising as he got closer that the man was probably having heart palpitations if not a full blown heart attack.

"Give him some room, I'm a doctor," he called authoritatively. "Kelly get the paramedics." And he set to work.

It hadn't been the quiet evening in the bar that he'd hoped. But on the other hand now he was always assured of a warm welcome in Molly's having helped the man who was in fact Art, the owner until the paramedics appeared. Kelly was his niece but had been brought up by him. Harry was promised 5 star service whenever he needed and he was pretty sure that when Art was out of hospital, and well on the way to recovery his chances with Kelly were pretty high too.

He made his way back to his building; exhausted after the tension but it had felt good to be a 'hands on' doctor for a while again. It was starting to get cold, the mornings could be frosty but come the afternoon the temperature would soar making it impossible to wear a winter jacket on the walk home. He had heard that this would make the New England foliage spectacular this year, maybe he'd hire a car for a weekend and take a trip. Maybe he could ask Kelly to go with him.

* * *

**One Broken Heart For Sale: Otis Blackwell (Elvis)**

**Hope there's a bit more of their feelings in this bit, especially for KiwiSWfan but if in doubt Elvis is the best indicator of what's going on!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing**


	12. Chapter 12 One Broken Lover's Heart

**Chapter Twelve**

**Sunday 14****th**** October**

**One Broken Heart For Sale, One Broken Lover's Heart**

"Harry?"

"Harry are you there it's really dark?"

"I'm here," came the whispered response.

"Harry? Do you want me to call back later?"

"No, it's fine, I'm just a bit…a bit…"

"Good grief Harry, are you too hung over to even turn the light on?"

"No!" he countered and Nikki heard a rustle as he reached over to turn on the bedside light.

"Aargh!" he groaned. "I think that's yes I am."

"What time did you get home?"

"About three I think?"

"A good night?" Nikki asked.

"Errmm Yes, I'm not sure."

"So you're not going to be specific?"

"Come on Nikki, don't be mean now. Do you want to talk or just make fun of me?"

Nikki smiled at him, she did like messing with him but he did genuinely look awful, he flopped his head back on his pillow and rearranged his computer to fit on the pillow next to him. "Alright I'll play nice," she agreed.

"Did you get lucky?" she added.

"I…erm…I…" Harry stumbled. "I'm not sure?"

"You're not sure!"

"Nikki you said you wouldn't be mean!"

"Harry, I can see her arm, well at least I hope it's a she, unless you have something major you're not telling me like growing a third female looking arm, I would suggest that you did indeed get lucky and you'd better start thinking quickly because it looks like she's waking up!"

Harry looked from the blond on one side of his pillow to the red head on the other pillow.

"What'ya doing?" Kelly asked.

"I'm just talking to someone," Harry replied desperately trying to fill in the blanks of the night before.

"At 8am on a Sunday morning?" She raised her head and stared at the screen.

"Time zones" he muttered

"That had better be your sister," she groaned and turn off that light, it's killing me!" she grunted and then rolled to the far side of the bed and hid her head under the duvet to shut out the light.

"You alright?" Nikki asked.

"You think that's really funny don't you," Harry grumbled.

Nikki laughed. "I thought you'd got past 'til dawn do us part,'"

"Hah, you can be a real cow sometimes."

Nikki laughed again.

"So anyway, how are you?" he asked, feeling human for the first time since his alarm had woken him.

"Not as lucky as you," she replied.

"I wouldn't be so sure it all started because I helped her uncle when he had a heart attack, we started off having thank you drinks and it was all going really well, then I nearly had the heart attack when she said she was still in school."

"Go on,"

"Well it turns out, they call everything school here, she's a post grad,"

"So she's still only 25 max then," Nikki raised an eyebrow, but realised Harry probably wasn't focusing well enough to notice.

"Work ok?" he asked.

"Rushed off my feet. Unlike you I haven't had time to go out, Leo's still not found anyone and I got stuck with this terrier of a forensics 'expert' this week."

"He got under your skin?"

"Yes….No!" now it was Nikki's turn to waver.

"Are you likely to work with him again?"

"I don't know, Leo took rather a shine to him and he has to find a way of making the Lyell adapt to changes…. Harry are you yawning? Am I boring you?"

"Nikki, I was out late. I'll call you next week ok. Ring me in the week if he gets insufferable."

"OK Harry, get some sleep," she blew him a noisy kiss to the webcam.

"Next Sunday, I'll be better next Sunday," he mumbled reaching across to click off the light.

"See ya' Harry."

"That had bloody better be your sister!" he heard from beneath the covers on the far side of the bed as he disconnected and put the computer back on the floor.

* * *

**One Broken Heart for Sale: Otis Blackwell (Elvis)**


	13. Chapter 13 America The Beautiful

**Chapter Thirteen **

**Sunday 21****st**** October**

**America The Beautiful: Oh beautiful for spacious skies.**

"Surprise!"

"What?"

"Surprise!"

"Where are you what are you doing?" Nikki asked.

"Look!" he said and slowly moved his ipad around in front of him.

"Harry?"

"Isn't it beautiful?"

"Harry I don't understand, talk to me." A pause. "Talk to me Harry."

"He spun the camera back around to his face, I got a new toy." He explained.

"I'm getting dizzy Harry, can you hold it still?"

There was a bit of bumping whilst Harry moved the computer again and then it stopped as he'd obviously found somewhere to put it down.

"I bought an ipad, all the students have them, typing on them is a nightmare but they're good for other stuff and this one has 4G so I can take you with me wherever I go."

"And?" Nikki asked.

"Welcome to Upstate New York, I was planning on going all the way to Vermont, but I got bored and it's just as lovely here. I hired a car on Friday and just drove off in the direction Ruby suggested. She lent me the maps and everything, it's amazing you just drive until you get bored find a motel and hope for the best."

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"How far have you driven?"

"Why do you need to know?" he asked and paused. "Are you worrying about the petrol?"

"No," she pouted. "Yes."

"Lots of places will fill your car up for you here if you ask. I've done so much else new Nikki I had to try it, I can't stay stuck in the past forever can I? Now are you ready for another look, you'll have to tell me which way to move you so you can see. See that ridge there, with the sunrise reflecting on it? It's going to be a blaze of colour in a moment when the sun peeps over that ridge."

"So you're enjoying yourself then?"

"Yes I am." Harry said confidently.

"And how are the students?"

"I think they're getting used to me."

"And the office gossip?"

"Professor Volosin sent us all a memo, about professional behaviour."

"So there'll be no more fish poisonings for you to solve then?"

"I wouldn't be that hopeful, but Vice-Chair Randy from biochemistry at least seems to have not picked up anyone new recently."

"Randy, that's funny."

"What?"

"Your office Lothario,"

"No that really is his name."

"You are shitting me! The oversexed biochemistry professor is called Randy."

"Professor Randy Boxleitner," Harry announced seriously.

"That is priceless. You're not making this up?"

"If I was; you would never believe me would you?"

"Not a chance," she chuckled.

"Nikki quick look!" He turned the tablet round as the sunlight began to illuminate the different colours on the trees across the valley, it picked out an impossibly tall and thin white church steeple in stark contrast to the blaze or colour around it.

"It's beautiful Harry. Spectacular."

He stood admiring the scene for a while, slowly turning the screen in his hands around to give Nikki the panoramic view. "I'm glad you're seeing it with me."

"Me too, Harry."

"What happened to last week's girl?"

"You were right." Harry admitted turning the screen round to face him again.

"Right about what?"

"Til dawn us do part."

"Oh….Sorry, I hope that wasn't my fault."

"Why on earth would it be your fault?"

"I'm sure being woken up to find the bloke you'd just shagged chatting away to some other girl in his bed didn't do much to enhance her morning."

"Why?" said Harry obtusely, "I was only talking to you."

"Harry!"

"What?"

"Look another time, just send me a text or something, there's bound to be a Sunday I get called out and can't make it, I'm not having you blow your chances because every morning after, you're up at the crack of dawn, chatting to me!"

"I don't think it was chatting to you that sealed the deal," Harry admitted.

"You're not losing your charm are you?" she teased.

"Shut up Nikki and look at the trees!"

"You'll have to turn me around then." He spun the screen back again to the red and golden foliage and they watched as the leaves almost glowed under the clear sun light.

"That is truly an amazing sight Harry; it's beautiful."

"Yes, it's been good to get out of the city."

They watched a while longer. "I should start driving back really," Harry said.

"Thanks, Harry. Drive safely. Oh how's the right hand side thing going?"

"It's ok, and most of this was done on the Freeway, so once you're on, not a lot can go wrong."

"I'll talk to you next week then,"

"Next Sunday."

"Thanks again Harry. It was a great idea."

"See you next week."

She held up her hand and waved and closed the connection.

* * *

**America the Beautiful: Katherine Lee Bates (Elvis)**

**I know I (or Harry) makes lots of digs at American life, and I love the reviews that go 'that really annoys me too,' etc. as I know I've struck a chord with some of you but griping aside the natural landscape really is phenomenally beautiful in places.**


	14. Chapter 14 Why Should I Worry

**Chapter Fourteen **

**Friday 26****th**** October**

**Why should I worry?**

"Hello?" Harry grabbed his phone on the third ring and slurred sleepily into the receiver.

"Harry?"

"Hello?"

"Harry!"

"Nikki?"

"Yes, it's me how are you?"

"Nikki, it's …" there was a fumble and a pause. "Nikki it's 1am!"

"Harry I just…."

But suddenly Harry was awake. "Nikki, are you alright? Are you in trouble? What's the matter?"

The questions fired out of his mouth and his stomach lurched with a familiar but not recent feeling of doom. "Nikki, answer me, talk to me, what's the matter?"

"Harry it's nothing, I was worried about you."

"Nikki? ME? Why, what's the matter? What's happened?"

"So you're ok."

"Nikki…Nikki you're not making any sense, you sound…tearful erm…worried. Tell me what's the matter." There was no reply for a while. "Do you want to Skype, at least I can see you then. I can't tell what's going on, if you don't talk to me!"

There was a sniff from Nikki's end of the phone. "No the phone's fine. I was worried Harry. I woke up early and put the news on. The pictures Harry, the pictures are horrific. And usually it's so far away and it's just another storm yah di yah hurricane season and all that, but it's right there and you're there and…"

"Is this something to do with the storm they were predicting?"

"Not just predicting, you're telling me that everything's ok there?"

Harry climbed out of bed and opened the blind on his window; it was the first time after the phone had woken him that he'd listened to any sounds other than those from the phone. It was dark, really dark, but in the light that there was he could see the rain being driven horizontally by the wailing wind. He ran out of his apartment and to the window at the top of the hallway where the rest of the Manhattan Skyline could normally be seen.

"It's all dark Nikki, everywhere's dark!"

"Have you got power?"

He went back into his apartment and tried the lights.

"No, nothing! What are they saying on the news?"

"They're saying a storm surge has hit and that the subway and tunnels have all been flooded. Were the trains still running Harry, what's going on?"

"No, there were emergency precautions made yesterday, all the public schools closed, I thought it would be nice to go home early and catch up with some marking…."

"It's a bit more serious than that."

"I can see."

"Is you're building going to be OK?"

"I'll be fine Nikki; you don't have to be so worried about me you know. I'm ok."

"I know, I'm sorry Harry. Sorry I woke you."

"I wasn't asleep," he lied.

Nikki smiled. "And you say I'm a bad liar."

"It's cold," Harry said. "I'm getting back into bed. I guess you're getting ready to go to work."

"Yes, I woke up early, thought the news might relax me a bit."

"When does the news ever do that?"

"You're right. What was I thinking?"

"You were thinking; you were worried about me." Harry said sagely.

"Sorry."

"Don't be…" he said pulling the duvet up around him. "It's nice. Do you think I should give Mum a ring?"

"No it's a bit early, Harry, go back to sleep, I'll call her in an hour or so and you can call her later when you wake up. You won't be going to work today."

"Thanks Nikki,"

"Do you still want to do Sunday?"

"Of course Nikki, Sundays at one. It's what we do. Well that is if I have any power of course, my computer battery won't last that long."

"Night Harry, sleep well, stay safe."

"Have a good day, thanks for ringing."

"I'll text you later."

"Later."

* * *

**Why should I worry: Billy Joel (Miley Cyrus)**

**Just humour me here, I realise the wi fi or whatever the phones run on would probably have been knocked out in the blackout caused by Super Storm Sandy too but maybe Harry's mobile had just enough to keep it going for a bit…**

**Reviews are always welcome :)**


	15. Chapter 15 If You're Looking For Trouble

**Chapter Fifteen **

**Wednesday 31****st**** October**

**If you're looking for trouble, You came to the right place**

"But you must come!" Harry's colleague pleaded. "You have to do Halloween properly now you're here?"

"Really?"

"Come on, it'll be awesome. You'll love it. I know you keep candy in your desk I've seen it, here's a chance to get some for free."

"But what if it's horrible?"

"You throw it away!" Debbie laughed. Debbie was in her late thirties, she was also in the pathology department of the NYU medical sciences department and had been a great help to Harry when he had first arrived.

"So did you buy candy?"

"What for?" Harry asked.

"To give to all the children in your building who will come round and knock on your door tonight."

"What children?"

"Harry, it's Halloween, trick or treat! What are you not getting here?"

"The parents of the kids in my building would let them knock on my door so I can give them sweets, when they don't know who I am?"

"Yep that's how it works Harry, there have been some problems over the years but in a friendly neighborhood it works well and it's about the only time of year we talk to the neighbors so it's neat. You'll have to come home with me. That way the kids in your building won't think you're an old grouch."

Harry opened his mouth and closed it.

"Besides, I need you to wear the Voldermort costume. The kids were desperate to do Harry Potter this year and since Chuck left, we're a character down."

"I didn't know your husband had left you!" Harry said aghast.

"That's because you don't listen to any of the office gossip."

"I don't understand most of it. I'm sorry."

"That's ok Harry, the kids are happier without him, I'm happier without him. You never know when someone new might turn up in your life. We'll need to leave about five and grab the kids, does that fit with your schedule?"

"That will be fine," Harry replied and sat down heavily in his chair. He looked out over the office he was beginning to think of as home and remembered how he'd first described it as an African Plain. Debbie was definitely a lion. What had Nikki described him as? A hippo; that was it. Hadn't she said they were fierce? He wondered who would win in a show down between a lion and a hippo and hoped that Debbie's intentions for the evening were purely friendly.

He felt ridiculous in the costume but Debbie's three kids were having a wonderful time, running up the steps to the porches of the big houses in her neighbourhood. Each house was decorated with fake spider webs, witches and pumpkins. One house had an RV with two skeletons in the passenger seat. The kids were carrying pillowcases and grabbed handfuls of sweets at every house. Each one had enough to open a small sweet shop, it looked like his school terms worth of tuck rationing in one day. When everyone had got too cold and their bags were too heavy to carry any more they went back to Debbie's house for hot chocolate with marshmallows and to begin to devour the stash of confectionary.

"Forrester, you cannot eat all that candy tonight, you have to save some."

"Why not Mom?" the child whined; it tastes good and it's Halloween! He stuffed another Reese's buttercup in his mouth.

"I'll fix you all a PBJ, and then you can have some more later." Debbie said and collected the bags.

"MOM!" Rang out from the three children but they scampered off to watch tv.

"PBJ?" asked Harry

"Peanut butter and jelly," Debbie replied. "You want me to fix you one?"

"Maybe just the jelly," said Harry picking up the jar and assessing the contents; it was definitely jam but claimed to be grape flavour. It was a firm American flavour favourite but Harry had not acquired the taste yet.

"You must be busy working all day, and having the kids too."

"You get used to it, my Pop lives quite close and he takes them on weekends and can fetch them if school closes early. But I don't usually do much of an evening, I kind of collapse once the kids are in bed."

"I'm not surprised."

There was an ear splitting scream from the room followed by an ominous silence and then a chorus of:

"MOM!"

Debbie stormed off in their direction and Harry heard low voiced threats about behaviour and guests in the house and a candy embargo. He felt it safest to carry on the job of making the sandwiches.

"The sandwiches are ready!" he called loudly during a gap when no one was complaining.

"Mom, why did he have to make them, there's not enough jelly." Forrester grouched. "I don't really want it; may I get do…"

But instead of finishing his sentence the child vomited across the breakfast bar.

"Euw! That's gross," Debbie's three year old daughter screamed.

"I told him not to eat so much!" Taylor insisted.

"That's it!" Debbie said. "Bedtime everyone!"

"I'm really sorry Harry, give me ten minutes to sort them out and maybe we could have a glass of wine together?"

She ushered the kids upstairs and left Harry alone in the kitchen. He packed away the food and then as she still hadn't reappeared found some rubber gloves and began to work on the mess on the table. The shower had been turned off well before he had finished the tidying but there was no sign of Debbie. After standing in the kitchen for another five minutes without any noise from upstairs, he decided to venture up. He put on the hallway light and peeked into the rooms one by one. Taylor the oldest was fast asleep, in his room. The next room was pink, with sparkly star fairy lights but no children. Debbie's room was also empty. In the final room he found Forrester asleep on his bed, with Debbie squished up beside him and Danni on the rug on the floor. He picked up the little girl and put her in the bed in the pink room, turned out the lights and called himself a cab. A cab back into the city at this time would cost him a fortune, so much for free sweets he thought bitterly.

* * *

**Trouble: Leiber Stoller (Elvis)**


	16. Chapter 16 Once Upon A Time

**Chapter Sixteen **

**Sunday 4****th**** November**

_**And once again her eyelid flickers; she whips a pistol from her knickers.**_

"Hi Nikki, have you been working late again?"

Nikki shook her head.

"So what's with the bed?"

Nikki opened her mouth but Harry didn't hear anything.

"Is this Skype working today? I can't hear you. Have you got your microphone switched on?"

Nikki nodded this time and pointed at her mouth and then made a thumbs down signal.

"You've lost your voice?"

She nodded again.

"How do you feel?"

She shrugged her shoulders and wiggled the thermometer by her bedside at the webcam.

"Poor you!"

She nodded again.

"This is going to be a bit difficult," Harry smiled.

She scrunched her face up and then lent across to her bedside table again.

"Nikki?"

Her face reappeared in the camera, with a grin and a notepad.

"Would it be easier to do an instant message thing?"

Nikki shook her head and pointed at her eyes and the webcam.

"You want to see me? He sat up further in his bed revealing more of his bare chest. "So you're not feeling THAT bad," he said exaggeratedly.

She scribbled something on her notepad and held it up to the camera. It said: 'tell me a story.'

"I don't know any stories," he claimed.

She held up the thermometer and the box of tissues to the webcam and then held up her paper again and prodded it expectantly.

"I've got nothing Nikki."

She started to scribble; 'any good shag stories this week?'

"NO!" he said emphatically.

'PLEASE' she wrote.

He filled her in on the details of his Halloween experience briefly. She smiled and mimed eating a sweet.

"I didn't eat any of the sweets, most of them are truly disgusting and I'd not got much of an appetite after I'd finished cleaning. Debbie apologised of course and thanked me for tidying up but I don't think she'll invite me over again. I'm not sure I could handle that pack of kids for long either! Did you know that most American families eat their Halloween candy for a few days after Halloween and then anything that's not eaten just gets thrown in the bin. The amount of waste this country produces!"

Nikki picked up her paper and Harry read what she had written: 'Story not rant!'

"Sorry."

Harry pulled the spare pillow from the far side of the bed and propped it behind him and scratched his head. He had leaned right into his computer screen as he arranged the pillow behind him and this had obviously given Nikki an idea. When he looked up again she was writing.

'Tell me how you got that scar on your head?'

Harry put his hand up to his forehead, tracing the line down the centre. "This one?" he asked.

Nikki nodded and settled herself into her own pillows.

He made a big show of remembering and thinking and opening his mouth as if to start and then stopping again. He saw her laugh even though no sound came out.

"I tried to fly," he said eventually.

Nikki flapped her hands and pointed back at him, smiled and flapped her hands again. He nodded. She circled her hands round to indicate she needed more.

"You know what little boys are like." She raised an eyebrow at this point. "Well most little boys," Harry conceded. "It was different for me, I didn't have a brother to torment, or a sister to boss me about, it was just me on my own most of the time and Mum had taught me to read quite early on. Before I went to school in fact, she said I just picked it up, but I'm sure she helped me, so by the time I was six and all my friends were finishing books about cats and hats and mats, I was reading Peter Pan. I had no way of distinguishing reality from fantasy or maybe I just didn't want to distinguish reality and fantasy so I used to sit up in a tree at the bottom of the garden and make believe my father was in a good mood and my mother was happy and that I'd have a baby sister soon to play with and one day I just decided that I would fly away from it all and go…oh I don't know what I was thinking. Mum told me the story. She said she saw me from the window climb to the edge of the branch and then jump out, with arms outstretched."

Nikki pointed at her forehead.

"The scar? I caught my head on the branch below; it wasn't a very big tree, not a tree at all really just a big bush with easy low branches to climb. I wasn't high up, but of course it bled profusely and made a mess of my face."

Nikki smiled.

"It reminds me not to believe in fantasy," Harry said, rubbing his forehead. Stick to the science. "Believing in fantasy just ends up hurting."

He saw Nikki reach for a tissue and blow her nose; he was hoping this was to do with her cold and not his story. Then she kissed her finger and placed it on the screen, presumably over where she could see his head. He tapped about on the computer for a bit and found the page he was looking for.

"There is one other I remember," he said.

Nikki settled further into the pillows and closed her eyes as Harry began.

_As soon as Wolf began to feel_

_That he would like a decent meal,_

_He went and knocked on Grandma's door._

_When Grandma opened it, she saw_

_The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,_

_And Wolfie said, ``May I come in?''_

He stopped as soon as he saw she was nearly asleep.

"I'll talk to you next week,"

He saw her nod and wave and disconnected.

* * *

**Little Red Riding Hood: Roald Dahl**


	17. Chapter 17 She's Not You

**Chapter Seventeen **

**Sunday 11****th**** November.**

_**Her hair is soft and her eyes are also blue. She's all the things a girl should be But she's not you.**_

"Nikki? Is that my jumper?"

"Hi Harry, how are you? Nice of you to get out the bed. There's no one in there with you this week is there?"

"Nikki!"

"Yes I'm feeling much better thanks, how was your week?"

"You said you were taking them to the charity shop," he said indignantly remembering clearly the afternoon she had spent at his flat consigning his clothes to various piles.

"I said 'I'd recycle them for you,'" she enunciated clearly.

"And?"

"I recycled it!" she gestured to the jumper she was wearing.

"Have you got any others?" he asked.

"I might have," she said cryptically. That woman he thought, she had stolen his stuff from the minute she arrived at the Lyell and now she had his car and half his wardrobe.

"Why are you wearing my jumper?"

She pulled up the jumper to reveal another jumper underneath and some kind of t-shirt shirt thing under that.

"Enough!" he called. It was obviously freezing.

"Has your heating packed up?"

"No, it's fine, I just got cold out this morning; I only just got back. This seemed the quickest way to warm up before the heating gets going."

"Been anywhere nice?"

"It's remembrance day!"

"Oh! It's getting a bit cold here too."

"So what's news?"

"I had a date."

"Tell me more." Nikki said excitedly. "Where did you meet?"

"At work,"

"Tell me she's not in medical sciences or whatever your department calls itself,"

"No, she's a historian."

"That's a relief."

"So how did it go?"

"We had drinks, she left quite early but I think it went well."

"Have you called her?"

"I think I will later."

"Good for you Harry, what's she called?"

"Leyla Mei," Harry said proudly.

"Sounds…"

"She's Polynesian." Harry explained.

"So she's gorgeous!"

Harry smiled.

"I hope it works out Harry."

"How about you?"

"Hmm, you know I mentioned that forensics bloke, Leo has asked him to join the team."

"So he didn't really interview him either?"

"No he claimed I had but we'd just worked a case together. Anyway he was checking some theory about a storm drain/sewage pipe and tides and wanted to check it again at low tide. We'd found a body on the river bank earlier. So he had the brilliant idea of going at the next low tide and checking it out."

"Which was?"

"8:30 the night before last. So we played some pool in this dingy pub…"

"I hope you were beating him,"

"I was being kind." Harry giggled and Nikki continued, "So we were in the dingy pub playing pool and then we go off to look at the storm drain."

Nikki stopped for a bit and looked up at Harry. She could see the beginnings of amusement showing at the corner of his mouth.

"He took you down the storm drain didn't he?" Harry asked. "Phew, brave man! What shoes did you have on?"

"It doesn't matter they're in the bin now!"

"Oh Nikki, did you find anything useful?"

"Oh yes, we found her phone and figured out why the body would float so soon after death and …"

"How?" Harry interjected, his brain suddenly running with the first proper case he'd heard in a while.

"She'd used her inhaler, pumped her lungs full of gas then had her windpipe blocked with the kack from the tunnels."

"Clever!" Harry admitted.

"Jack said I was a genius!"

"What to your face? Brown nosing little creep."

"No, to Clarissa his assistant. And she told me."

"He has an assistant? I thought you said he was a forensics geek."

"She's the brains and he's the brawn, they're a double act." Nikki explained.

"Oh," Harry replied, none the wiser.

"So Jack is here to stay."

"Seems like it for now."

"Why do you say that, you make it sound like he's going to disappear next week."

"He might well do. Do you know what he does in his spare time?"

"Surprisingly Nikki, no I don't origami, sky diving?"

"Boxing! Cage fighting to be precise" There was a pause. "He says it helps him unwind and deal with his guilt."

"That's some guilt…did you tell him to try religion?"

Nikki chuckled, Harry had given the exact same answer as she had. "Yes I did."

"And you told him as well what happens to boxers grey matter and how it shrinks…"

"Yes again," Nikki replied.

"And…"

"He doesn't care and said that doctors were self-righteous and should butt out and stop telling everyone else how to live their lives."

"Charming…you two are going to make a great team." Harry smiled.

"What about his assistant is she nice?"

"Clarissa is great, very helpful quite serious but I'm not sure we'll be going out drinking together."

"Oh," said Harry and left it at that.

"What?" Nikki asked as she saw Harry's face staring at her.

"I was thinking?"

"Sounds dangerous Harry."

"Do you think it's a bit corny to call Leyla and ask if she wants to go the zoo with me this afternoon? Does that sound like a date? Or a friendly afternoon at the zoo? It gets a really good write up in your guide book and I've not been yet."

"It sounds good Harry. Just be yourself."

"Alright then, I'd better get up."

"Have a good day Harry."

"You too, see you next week."

"Next week!"

* * *

**She's Not You: (words & music by Jerry Leiber - Mike Stoller - Doc Pomus) Elvis Presley**

**Thanks again to my lovely readers and reviewers and Happy Easter to all.**


	18. Chapter 18 How To Make Me Laugh

**Bonus Harry hugs to KiwiSWfan...just because**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen **

**Sunday 18****th**** November**

_**She knows just how to make me laugh when I feel blue. She's ev'rything a man could want. But she's not you.  
**_  
"Hi Harry,"

"Hello Nikki, you look nice."

"Thanks."

"It's just I prefer to see you in your own clothes…" he smiled.

"How was the zoo?"

"The zoo was brilliant, just like it is on the films. We didn't stay that long as it was cold but we got on well."

"It sounds great Harry," she said.

"What's the matter? You look thoughtful?"

"I was just thinking about next month?" she replied.

"Next month, doesn't the next week have more immediate problems?"

Nikki just shook her head and pulled a face. "Have you got plans for Christmas?"

"Oh!" said Harry, catching on to what was bothering his friend. "I was thinking of going away somewhere. I could go to Washington and see the Wright Brother's Special Exhibition at the Smithsonian, or maybe I could just go somewhere warm and sit on a beach."

"What about Cape Canaveral? You'll have sunshine and rockets."

"There's an idea," Harry nodded.

"What about you?"

"I was thinking of going away too, but now I'm not so sure."

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"Oh, everything is crazy at work, I'm not happy about leaving Leo and Jack together for too long and then I'd have to pick a place I want to go and after having done all that if we get three snowflakes all the airports will close down and I'll not get to go anywhere."

"So what will you do instead?"

"Your mother invited me," Nikki said quietly.

Harry raised an eyebrow. We had lunch one day last week; she had come into town to meet a friend in the evening so we met for lunch.

"How is she?"

"She looked well Harry; she asked if I knew anymore about the lovely Leyla?"

"We had dinner on Thursday." Harry said with a pleased smile on his face.

"And"

"We had dinner."

"Just dinner?"

"Nikki! She's nice Nikki, I don't want to mess it up ok."

"So I told your mother all I knew about Leyla, and I told her your Halloween nightmare that she hadn't heard."

"And she invited you for Christmas." Harry put in.

"We're both on our own, Harry. Really on our own. She says there's a pub nearby that does a reasonable lunch and the atmosphere is good and when we've had enough we can walk home and watch the Queen and fall asleep. What more is there to Christmas?"

"There's every chance she will try and drag you to Midnight Mass the night before."

"I didn't think your mum was religious."

"She's not, just on Christmas."

Nikki smiled.

"What was that look for?" Harry asked indignantly.

"You!" she laughed.

"Me? What?"

"Just ON Christmas! They're getting to you Harry. You'll be losing your accent next and saying 'gotten' and restroom."

"I DO say restroom, blimey if you actually say the word 'toilet' to anyone here they look at you as if you have just said every word that the BBC has ever bleeped out of its programmes. So are you thinking of going?"

"It sounds nice actually. I think I'll tell her I'll come."

"Haven't you got some girlfriends you could go out with?"

"What and get woken at 5:30am by hyper kids and spend the day playing ponies and finding and mending bits of broken plastic with over excited children. It'll be a rematch of your Halloween disaster."

"I can see your point." He paused. "They all have kids?" he added.

"Mm Hmm," she nodded. "Except Darcey, but she's going to Bermuda."

"Oh Bermuda sounds brilliant."

"Since when were you into beach holidays?"

"Since I was actually enforced to take holiday, and ever since the weather has been below freezing every day for the second week in a row. I cannot describe just HOW cold it is Nikki."

"You could go to Disneyland, I'm sure they'll do a Christmas special."

"And I could jump off the Brooklyn bridge too," he replied sarcastically.

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Nikki asked.

"Ruby invited me."

"Ruby; your secretary?"

"Yes, she says she always has a houseful and one more or less wouldn't make a difference."

"Are all four grandchildren going to be there?"

"Probably, although I hear the men get to hide and watch the football in the afternoon."

"You'd be safer out with the kids!" Nikki laughed and then added, "It can't be worse than Halloween."

"I hope you're right."

"You didn't get invited back to Halloween House then?"

"No, Debbie has found some other poor soul to inflict that pleasure on, someone from engineering I think, it was clear she wasn't going to waste any time. So other than going out with my mother, did you see anyone else, this week?" Harry asked happy to change the subject.

Nikki didn't reply.

"There is, isn't there, you had a date!"

"Might have,"

"And…"

"He's nice…"

"BUT"

"But he's a bit clingy."

"CLINGY?"

"Clingy," Nikki affirmed.

"You can only have seen him a couple of times, you haven't told me about him before how can he be clingy?"

"Oh, it's not like he's emotional clingy, he just has to be touching some part of me all the time, it makes me feel like he's stopping me from running away."

"And are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Getting ready to run away?"

"I was trying not to. It's hard Harry. It's really hard."

"I know," he said seriously. "I know."

"Next week then?"

"Next week."

* * *

**She's not you: Pomus Lieber and Stoller (Elvis Presley)**


	19. Chapter 19 Almost Feels The Same

**Chapter Nineteen **

**Sunday 25****th**** November**

_**And when we're dancing, it almost feels the same I've got to stop myself from whisp'ring your name.**_

"Nikki? Do you remember that paper we wrote on liver trauma as a result of hemochromatosis,"

"Hi, Harry, how are you today. Nice to see you. How was your week? Did you enjoy Thanksgiving?"

"Err Hello, yes very nice,"

"Hello Harry." Nikki said pointedly.

"Well we don't ever say goodbye do we? I didn't know if we should dispense with 'hello' too."

"You're an idiot,"

"I know, but I'm you're idiot and you're crazy enough to indulge me every Sunday morning."

"I like talking to you."

"I do too, now that paper; do you remember who reviewed it?"

"Harry it was ages ago. Neither of us wanted to write it, Leo just needed something to keep our publications up to make our funding looked good."

"Yes, but didn't it get sent back from some snooty reviewer a couple of times before it got published?"

"Yes, I vaguely remember something. What's this all about? Have you finally developed a love for the liver?" she asked.

"No, it was just that I sent in a paper a week or so back, and I'm sure it was the same reviewer; a Professor Advani."

"Could have been? I don't really remember. What was wrong with it?"

"Everything according to him,"

"Oh, sorry. Do you want me to have a look at it?"

"Would you mind?"

"I take it that if I help you, you'll put my name on the paper." There was a pause.

"That was one of the comments," Harry admitted.

"What was?"

"Professor Advani said that this was the first paper he'd read that wasn't an Alexander,Cunningham paper or a Cunningham, Alexander paper."

"and…"

"He said, 'it was obvious half of it was missing,'"

"Oh, Harry! Send it over. How are the students?"

"Do you know I'm not allowed to grade them how I want to? I have to follow some sliding mathematical scale that will only alter their GPA by so many percentage points. You need a degree in stats before you even start looking at their papers. I mean if it's worth a C it's worth a C, but apparently not over here."

"You'll get used to it,"

"How's Mr Clingy?"

"He's gone, he was giving me the creeps AND he was the dribbliest kisser I have ever had the misfortune to kiss."

"Ugh! Nikki that's disgusting and way too much information."

"I thought we were friends?"

"We are friends?"

"But isn't that what friends talk about?"

"I'm not sure I'm the right gender for those conversations. Sorry it didn't work out."

"How's Leyla?" Nikki asked after a pause.

"I think it's going well."

"AND…"

Harry shrugged his shoulders at her.

"Has she stayed over yet?"

"She might have…"

"And?"

"It was good Nikki, she's easy to talk to and beautiful and more mature than some of the girls I've seen. There's trouble in her department though, funding cut backs and all sorts."

"Tell me about it, it's the same over here we have to beg to get the funding for every little test we do. It's like trying to work with our hands tied behind our backs. You got out at the right time. Leo even suspects you saw it coming. Did you? You could have warned me!"

"I didn't know Nikki; we've been over this before."

They had been over it, but Nikki still wasn't sure she was certain of his motives for leaving. She knew Harry had thought he had left in some bizarre chivalrous gesture to allow them both to move on with their lives, but here they were every week spending time together and bitching often about the lack of suitable dates. It had far more to do with his up-coming birthday she surmised and the little piece of information Anne had given her about his father.

"It's ok Harry."

"Good, I'll email you the paper and Advani's comments."

"I'll have a look at it this afternoon and send back my revisions."

"Thanks Nikki."

"You'll owe me!"

"I always do."

"Next Sunday at one?"

"Sunday at one."

* * *

**She's not you: Elvis Presley**

**I know nothing about hemochromatosis...so don't ask, or no more that Wikipedia told me? Do know that scientists have a bizarre ranking system where the last name listed on a paper is recognised as the person who did all the work. The first name is often just the lab head who holds the purse strings so last is often best.**


	20. Chapter 20 Like You Used To Do

**Chapter Twenty **

**Sunday 2****nd**** December **

_**She even kisses me like you used to do, And it's just breaking my heart, 'Cause she's not you.**_

"Hiya Harry,"

"Hey, Nikki."

"Are you dressed already? You've not been dressed at this time for months. You're not having trouble sleeping again are you?"

"No," Harry laughed and dragged his hand through his hair. "I haven't been to bed yet. I got back so late or early I thought I'd just stay up talk to you and then go to bed."

"I hope you weren't planning on preparing your seminars this afternoon then?"

"Nah, I've tried making them think and it gets you nowhere. The students are at their happiest if you set them a portion of the text books to read and then go over it in class."

"That doesn't sound very stimulating?"

"No, but their grades are excellent and according to Professor Volosin, my students are among the happiest on campus. I'm not spending my waking hours devising challenges that will stretch their brains when all they want is to cram a bit more knowledge in for long enough to pass the module and move on to the next bit."

"Phew Harry, that's a bit strong isn't it. Anyway, where have you been all night? I don't see any ladies?"

"No, no ladies," Harry agreed.

"Is there a story?" Nikki asked excitedly.

"Not really."

"I think there is. Come on spill. I do have to go to work this afternoon so get on with it."

"Thanks for your edits to that paper by the way. It does look a lot better now."

"It didn't take long, no problem. But stop changing the subject! Where were you and what have you been up to?"

"I went to one of Jorge's gigs."

"Jorge, your doorman and Elvis impersonator extraordinaire?"

"That's the one."

"What's he been playing for you this week?"

"Oh the lift has been stuck on 'She's not you,' for weeks, apparently there's some fine vocal styling. Jorge has been talking about this gig for ages and I promised I'd go with him. So we left about nine last night."

"We?" Nikki queried.

"Me, Jorge, his friend Beto and Steve who lives on the fourteenth floor. We all helped Jorge set up and then he went off to get changed and we went out to get a drink and sit in the audience."

"And."

"We watched the show."

"Why are you blushing?" Nikki asked. "What kind of show was it, or was it a club?"

"I don't blush!" Harry insisted.

"You didn't take Leyla with you?"

"No, I didn't take Leyla."

"You are blushing, what kind of club was it? No wait, you didn't take Leyla and you haven't come home with a girl, you said Jorge went with his friend Beto," she began to chuckle at this point. It was a gay bar wasn't it?"

Harry nodded.

"So?" Nikki replied. "It must have been fun; you've been out all night!"

"It was; it was brilliant. Fortunately Steve picked up quite early on that I wasn't interested and found someone else and Beto and I sang along and had a fabulous time."

"Glad to hear it Harry."

"How is Leyla?"

"I'm not sure?" Harry replied.

"Not sure how?" Nikki asked.

"Well all of a sudden she's started talking about the future of our relationship and getting serious."

"Harry! You said she was in her late thirties, there's not a whole heap of time there, she needs to know if you're serious or else she needs to cut her losses quickly and move on."

"Charming!" Harry exclaimed.

"So are you serious?" Nikki asked.

"I might be, it's all a bit quick," Harry admitted.

"Do you love her?" Nikki asked.

"I have no idea," he replied honestly.

"You wouldn't know love if it came up and slapped you in the face!" Nikki goaded.

"Yes I would, and anyway you're too far away to slap me in the face now!" This time it was Nikki's turn to blush. Harry stretched and yawned.

"It was usually you slapping me in the face," Nikki retorted.

"And where did it get me?" Harry asked thinking back to that chase down the corridor at the Lyell. He'd been so busy looking behind him that he'd tripped and hit his head on a window sill. Nikki had driven him home and she'd made him play Scrabble for an hour to check he wasn't concussed. "I think I've probably had enough for one night," he said as he stretched again. "I'm tired, I'm going to bed now. Night Nikki. See you next week."

"Sleep well, Harry. I'll see you next week."

"Oh and Nikki, thanks for sending the Advent Calendar. You shouldn't have!"

"I knew you were missing your Cadbury's chocolate. You can count down until your holiday."

"Thanks."

"Go get some sleep Harry."

"Night."

"Afternoon?"

* * *

**She's not you : Elvis Presley **


	21. Chapter 21 Here Comes Santa Claus

**Spoiler Alert to Season 16: Trust. I know that the episodes I weave in here are patently not filmed in mid-winter but this is where it fitted in my time line so please suspend disbelief and continue to enjoy. Sorry if this spoils it for you; so sue me!**

**Thanks again to anyone reading and an Elvis sing-a-long to everyone who reviews, (that's not supposed to be a threat!)**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One **

**Sunday 9****th**** December**

_**Here Comes Santa Claus**_

"Hiya Harry,"

"Hello Nikki, see I said hello this week do I get a prize?"

"Shut up Harry, I only sent you chocolate last week, are you opening a window a day, or did you scoff it all the moment it arrived?"

Harry held up his advent calendar proudly; there were still some doors that hadn't been ripped off but far fewer than there should have been.

"What about you?" Harry asked. "Has the new boy had his face smashed in again yet?"

"No, not this week and I think the bruise over his eye has finally disappeared. I shall have to buy a replacement tube of arnica though; he's nearly used the lot."

"Are you working on anything specific?" Harry asked.

"What's the matter Harry, are you bored? You know I can't discuss details of the cases with you."

"I know you're not supposed to, but I do owe you, you said so yourself, maybe I could help?"

"This one is just a mess Harry. Two girls kept captive in a basement, half-starved and shot post mortem."

"They starved to death?" Harry asked.

"No, weirder than that there were high levels of tetrododoxine in their system."

"How did someone get hold of TTX and why use that to kill two people when they obviously had a gun?"

"The TTX has been traced to a drug company, Solomon McGuire, they claim they have defence contracts and are looking at antidotes, vaccines that kind of thing. They have strict security measures, like at airports but some of it got out somehow."

"So what are you thinking? Crime of passion, sexual assault, mad scientist?

The DI has it down as a sexual crime, Jack doesn't agree thinks it's more likely to be a trafficking issue and the two of them are so openly hostile it's hard to keep out of the way sometimes."

"And what do you think?"

"There are a lot of inconsistencies. It doesn't fit the profile of a sexual crime and the bodies did not show evidence of sexual assault but it's hard to be exact with that level of decomposition."

"So there were maggots."

"Oh yes, plenty. Are you missing it yet?"

"Not today, I was never a fan of the maggotty ones."

"Something will turn up. I'm going out with the DI later to look over the evidence."

"Anyone I know?"

"DI Reed."

"Doesn't ring a bell."

"No, she's recently down south from Yorkshire, Jack knew her before, they worked together up there."

"But there not working together down here? I thought you said they were fighting."

"She was married, she had an affair with Jack, there was an ugly ending but I don't know more. She's obviously very ambitious and she really gets under Jack's skin."

"Be careful Nikki, my office may be a minefield of ill-advised sexual liaisons you'd do well to avoid being too friendly with DI Reed. She'll be gone by next week and you'll still have Jack. Don't make enemies if you don't need to. He doesn't sound like the kind of bloke who would take you chumming up to his ex, well."

"You're sounding very wise today, is the title of Vice Chair Pathology finally adding some gravitas to your life or are you growing up?"

"Cheeky!"

"No, I guess I've been thinking about the future a bit."

"The future?"

"Leyla in particular."

"Oh," said Nikki quietly unsure now if she wanted to continue. It was one thing having light hearted chats once a week and comparing horror stories of disastrous dates, but now this was turning into Harry considering his future, and his future with Leyla.

"She says she wants to marry me." Harry explained.

"Have you asked her?" Nikki gasped, surprised that things had moved on at such an astonishing speed.

"No I haven't asked her, I'm not ready to ask her. I don't know if I even want to ask her. It's too quick, too soon. What do I do Nikki?"

"You can't ask me that?" she countered. "It's up to you!"

"I know, you've said that before."

"It's true," she confirmed. They sat in uneasy silence for a while.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he said sadly. "I feel like I've been here before and last time couldn't have gone any worse if I'd tried. Maybe I should just grow up and get on with it."

Nikki looked quizzically at him, "Last time?"

"Anna."

"Oh."

They never spoke of her, it might not be the right thing to do, bottle up all that anger and grief and terror, but it was the only way she knew how to deal with life's catastrophes; she wasn't going to begrudge her best friend doing the same.

"Harry?"

"Hmm," he said distractedly.

"Anna would have been murdered whether you were there or not, maybe not that day or the next but she would have been killed. It has nothing to do with your arguing with her, or not being ready to commit to her, her fate was sealed long before you even got on that aeroplane.

"But she would have known!" came Harry's quick response.

"Known what, Harry?"

He looked her straight in the eye then, Anna conjured up such a mix of emotions in him, it was too muddled even now to see through it all clearly. Was he in love with her? Had he been in love with her? He didn't think so. Was he in love with Leyla? 'Growing up and getting on with it,' that's what he'd said just before when thinking of her. That didn't sound much like love.

"Do you want to know how many Christmas cards you have so far?" Nikki suddenly asked, breaking his train of thought and waving a pile of letters in front of the webcam.

"Not many!" Harry laughed.

"True, but the one from Mr Li, is lovely do you want me to post you the calendar?" Nikki held up a traditional Chinese bamboo calendar and unrolled it for Harry to see.

"It's lovely Nikki, but if you feel like stealing it, go ahead," Harry suggested.

"I can't steal it if you let me have it can I? There's no fun in that!"

"Anything else?" he asked. She waved a pile of letters and began opening them.

"An RAC membership renewal. Your old school asking for money, your old university asking you for money, BA offering you a credit card. Oh this one looks good, it's got a cheque in. Look! Harry you won on the Premium Bonds!

"How much?" he asked.

"Twenty five quid! Congratulations!"

"I'd forgotten I'd even got any premium bonds. I must have been given them as a child. Can you email me the details and I'll change the address with them. Do you mind paying the cheque in for me?"

"No problem. Do I get a percentage of the winnings?"

"No you don't, you already have a beautiful and stylish calendar. What more do you want? Anything else? "

"A copy of the report from the Letting Agency but you get those by email. No that's your lot."

"Thanks Nikki."

"What for?"

"Being there, sorting out my life still."

"I've never done that Harry. I'm just being a friend."

He looked at her then; she was much more than a friend.

"Be careful Nikki, this case sounds dangerous. Don't go doing anything reckless!"

"I'll be fine, don't worry Harry."

"But I do," he admitted.

"I'll talk to you next week."

"See you next Sunday."

"Yes, next Sunday."

* * *

**Here Comes Santa Claus: Gene Autry (Elvis)**


	22. Chapter 22 You Scumbag You Maggot

**Chapter Twenty-Two **

**Thursday 13th December**

_**You scum bag, You maggot, You cheap lousy faggot, Happy Christmas your arse, I pray God it's our last.**_

4:21pm GMT

'If you get this text can u call me'

4:47pm GMT voicemail

'Harry, I sent you a text earlier, I know it's not lunch time yet and you're probably giving a seminar but if you get the chance I'd really like to talk to you.'

6:31pm GMT

'Where r u? need 2 talk'

10:51pm GMT voicemail

'I'm not sleeping Harry, please call me anytime. I've had a terrible day. I need to hear you Harry. You were so right, I was wrong. We should never have gone in there. Sorry I'm rambling now. Please call me back Harry.'

1:45am GMT Landline answerphone

'Harry, sorry to bother you, I can't imagine where you are. Do university professors have emergencies? I've still not been to sleep Harry, so don't worry about waking me, just call me back ok. I only rang this machine because you can leave a longer message on it. I was attacked today Harry, caught a fist or something to the face, I'm ok but it was just…it was just… oh Harry I sat shivering in the back of the ambulance with the pathetic green blanket draped around my shoulders and all I wanted was you back to hold me. It should have been you draped round my shoulders. It's always been you draped around my shoulders for so long now; I can't remember what it was like before. I was so cold without you, that blanket did nothing! I'm sorry Harry; I've tried to be realistic about it all but today I really missed you. I really really missed you. I was all alone Harry. I've never felt so alone, it was lucky the paramedics turned up when they did or I'd be dead for sure. Reed just ran off and left me to the flames. I know you can't make everything better but just to hear you Harry. It would help. Please call me.'

Nikki put down the phone and wept, never in her life had she left such a pathetic message. She hated herself for her weakness. She had carried on with her head held high, told Leo that they were moving on, that work would carry on without Harry but this was too much; too much today. She still felt cold; she had to get warm somehow. She pulled the duvet off the bed in the spare room and dragged it across the floor to her own bed, then wrapped it around her shoulders and got into her own bed to wait.

4:13am GMT 11:13pm EST

"Hello?" Nikki jolted awake, finding her phone still in her hand.

"Nikki?"

"Harry!"

"You've been leaving me messessessessges," he slurred.

"Oh Harry, you are really drunk!"

"Not reeeaaallly drunk… jusssst a teency bit drunk."

"Where have you been all day?"

"I leffft my fone at home, it was broken."

"It's working now!" Nikki commented, checking her screen to see what phone he was calling her from.

"It mussst 'av dried out."

"Did you drop it in the toilet again?"

"Again, Again! What is your problem? Always disparaging me. Enough already, I've had enough bloody questions and fussing. All I've had all day is stupid bloody women nagging me, 'Harry this, Harry that,' they all want a piece of me, they're all just using manipulating bitches and I have been used enough!"

"Harry?" Nikki asked. She had said all she wanted was to hear his voice, but now she wasn't so sure."

"Whassup with you then?" he asked coldly.

"It's been a bad day Harry, I got hurt…"

"I told you," interrupted Harry. "I told you not to do anything reckless and have you listened? No, I don't know why you bother asking my advice about anything, because you always do your own thing regardless. You're just like the rest of them, the evil witches. You probably just stormed in somewhere, without proper back up ready to change the whole bloody world."

"Harry what the hell is the matter with you?" asked Nikki finally losing her temper with him. She'd forgotten how infuriating he was.

"Wasss the matter with me?"

"Is there a reason you have drunk yourself stupid on a Thursday night in December? Or do you make a special effort to be sober on a Sunday morning for me so you can pretend that everything is fine in your new world?"

"Leyla left me."

There was an empty silence.

"She left you? I thought she wanted to marry you?"

"Hah!" Harry laughed manically down the phone. "You know what, You'll find this funny you will. She found out that I didn't have a green card, just a poxy work visa like hers and so now she's in 'love' with Chester from Political Science! Her job was being axed, no job, no visa sayonar…sayona...ah ah… adios! She was only ever interested in getting her fingers on a green card the manipulative little…

"That's enough Harry!" Nikki called. "Go drink some water and take an aspirin and go to bed! I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"I thought tomorrow was Friday?" Harry mumbled.

"Go to bed Harry."

* * *

**Fairy Tale of New York: The Pogues**


	23. Chapter 23 Blue Christmas

**Chapter Twenty-Three **

**Friday December 14****th**** 2013**

_**You'll be doing alright, with your Christmas of white but I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.**_

6:03am EST Text message

'SORRY, don't know what I said but SORRY.'

6:31am EST Text message

'Shit! Just listened to yr msg r u ok? Got to get 2 work. Call u soon."

7:45am EST 12:45pm GMT

"Nikki?"

"Harry?" she wasn't sure how to answer, she'd seen his texts but she wasn't ready for another round of his temper.

"Nikki, I am so sorry about yesterday, I shouldn't have called I…"

"I'm sorry too Harry, that was a terrible thing to happen. I can't believe she did that."

"I'm not here to talk about her; I'm here to talk about you. From what I can make out you got hit on the head and were left in a blazing building to die!"

"Have you been talking to Leo?" Nikki asked. There was a pause.

"I'm worried Nikki, whatever I said last night, I'm sorry I don't remember what it was but I'm pretty sure I made you the target for a lot of my anger and that is unforgiveable."

"No, it's not…" she said quietly in that voice of hers that was so gentle and trailed off as if not only her voice would disappear at the end of the sentence but her very being would too.

"Do you want to Skype?" Harry asked.

"No," she replied quietly.

"Oh,"

"You just want to have a look at the mess that is my face!" Nikki answered.

"As you wish, sometimes it's easier when I can see you."

"I like the phone, you have to listen more."

"Whatever you want, Nikki; just as long as you're alright."

"Leo bought me some flowers," she said.

"Are they nice?"

Nikki chuckled. "He's not you. Did you put him up to it?"

"Nikki!" Harry chided. "Can't a man buy his co-worker some flowers when she's been hit in the head and left to die?"

"A new tube of arnica would have been more useful!"

"Nikki!" Harry scolded again.

"Yes, Harry; they are very nice. Thank you."

"So you're ok. No delayed breathing problems from smoke inhalation, no blurred vision, extreme fatigue, headache, no risk of… I've run out," Harry explained.

"That desk job is making you slow Harry!" Nikki laughed. "You have to stay out there on the front line, to keep the reflexes sharp."

"And yours are so sharp you missed a six foot man coming towards you with something to belt you over the head!"

"You win!" she smiled. "I'm sorry about the messages Harry; I just freaked out a bit I suppose."

"It's ok, you were probably allowed. It was just really unfortunate timing that it was yesterday."

They both stopped lost in their own thoughts.

"So what's new for the case?" Harry asked.

"I'm not supposed to be discussing it!"

"Yes, but that never stops us," he said with a smile.

"Leo's doing the post mortems of the bodies we recovered from the warehouse. Jack is at the warehouse with a forensics team and I'm supposed to be here resting."

"And are you?"

"What?"

"Resting?"

"I'm doing much better now I've spoken to you."

"You have to be careful Nikki. You know better than to go into abandoned warehouses without back up. What got into you? You knew you should never have gone in there on your own. You must be careful."

"You know what it's like Harry; we were there, we could see the beginnings of the fire. We'd have lost the evidence, the bodies everything!"

"And I could have lost you!" Harry retorted.

"Like you'd care," she mumbled.

"What?"

"I said 'I'd remember to beware'."

"No you didn't," but he didn't press her. Of course he cared, he had rung her up hadn't he, got Leo to go round and check on her, what more was he supposed to do?

"I'm sorry Harry, I am tired, I'll text you later ok."

"Ok Nikki. Feel better soon."

"Sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

* * *

**Blue Christmas: Billy Hayes and Jay W Johnson (Elvis)**

**I know I promised smiles… but I just had to torture them a little on the way, and you can blame Richard Davidson (writer Trust) for some of the angst! Always love to hear your views.**


	24. Chapter 24 Precious Lord

**Chapter Twenty-Four **

**Saturday December 14****th**

'_**Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light, **_

_**Take my hand, precious Lord. Lead me home.'**_

5:30pm GMT

"Hi Nikki, how are you today are you better? Has the headache gone?"

"Oh hi, Harry."

"Nikki?"

"Err, thanks for phoning again Harry, it's sweet of you."

"But?"

"Oh Harry it's just such a mess, I don't want to talk about it. I'm fine."

"Oh."

Silence. He knew that word; he hated it when she used that word.

"Nikki, I don't really want to go without having found out the basics. Please?"

"THEY shot him, Harry! I was stood right with him, he wasn't a threat, I told them all along it wasn't him and they shot him anyway!"

"Shot who?" Harry asked, he remembered all the times when they were working together when she was like this, her mind flying through topics, and words spilling out of her mouth with no apparent sequence except the one they were both able to discern, but now he couldn't do it. He wasn't in the situation any longer, he didn't know enough of the details and he was powerless to help. He scrubbed at his face with the hand that wasn't holding the phone.

"Ballinger!" she answered as if that were supposed to mean anything to him.

"I thought he was already dead?" he had thought he'd be able to help her still on some cases. But not when she was like this or maybe he was just too far away to be of use.

"AND" she continued without drawing breath or answering his question, "Leo autopsied the body yesterday and was exposed to Anthrax."

"ANTHRAX?" Harry interrupted. "Is he alright?"

"He is now; he had IV antibiotics from what I could make out; all the HPA protocols were followed. The whole Lyell Centre was in lockdown."

"But didn't you say you were trying to get the bodies out from the warehouse. Nikki could you have been infected too?"

"I don't think so, I didn't get that close before getting knocked out and she wasn't breathing at that point."

"Hopefully she wasn't breathing on Leo either!" Harry insisted.

"Look Harry, Leo's ok. I'm ok. It's over now."

"TTX and Anthrax, when I suggested a mad scientist I was only joking." Harry said.

"He wasn't a mad scientist," Nikki said sadly. "Just someone caught in an impossible situation who had glimpsed happiness only to have it snatched away from him. He was just sad."

"I'm sorry Nikki, I feel like I should be there."

"But you left Harry, you moved on. I should too; I can't keep ringing you up every time I have a bad day."

"Nikki, that was not just a bad day, it wasn't forgetting to put the bin out or having to defrost the inside and the outside of the car and ending up late, or getting caught in traffic; that was having a near death experience and watching an innocent person you cared about die in front of you. That is not a normal person's typical bad day."

"It seems pretty normal for me! He wasn't totally innocent…"

"Come on now Nikki," he chided. What are you going to do tomorrow? You should go out, do something fun."

"I'm really not in the mood Harry."

"You could invite Leo over, keep an eye on him," Harry suggested.

"And he'd hate that even more than you ever did!"

Harry chuckled, she was right. She was always right. "Well if you're not going to take yourself out, you can come out with me."

"Harry don't be silly."

"I'm not being silly, I'm serious. Don't you remember seeing the trees. I know it wasn't quite Vermont, but we were almost there. I'll take you out tomorrow here. Where do you want to go? Central Park, the zoo, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty? Oh I know I could smuggle you in to the children's library. It says in your guide book that the original Winnie the Pooh and his friends are there in a display case. We should probably make it two tomorrow instead of one, just in case they don't open until nine. Where do you want to go?"

"Oh I don't know Harry, you choose. It's up to you."

"Ok Nikki," he didn't like hearing her like this, sensing her sadness, her vivaciousness snuffed out but there was only so much he could jolly her along. If she wanted to be down for a bit he was better off leaving her to it.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," he added. "Tomorrow at two. Make sure you've got some clothes on, we might be out in public."

"I'm not the one who usually Skypes naked from my bed!"

"I've never heard you complain so far!" This earned him a chuckle.

"Yes that's because you keep most of it covered up! And it's not as if I haven't seen it all before."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but she was right, their lax interpretation of the acceptable personal space rules had spilled over into an equally lax interpretation of acceptable nudity norms between colleagues.

"OK Harry, tomorrow at two. Thanks for trying to cheer me up."

"That's ok, I'll see you tomorrow," he said and put the phone down.

* * *

**Precious Lord: George Allen & Thomas Dorsey (Elvis)**

**Winnie the Pooh and his friends are in the Children's Library not the Main library (make this mistake at your peril) and I can tell you it's a long run between the two places and we got there just as it was closing and weren't allowed in!**


	25. Chapter 25 I'll Be Home For Christmas

**Chapter Twenty-Five **

**Sunday 13****th**** December**

_**I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams**_

"So what do you think? Can you see anything? I wondered if I should buy a better webcam?"

"Harry, I can't see a thing, just a lot of white; where are we?"

"Try that?"

Nikki saw the image change and could make out buildings below her. Suddenly there was a lot of noise and someone popped up in front of the camera and said 'hi!'

"Oy, get out the way, she's trying to see the view!"

"Okay man, chill!" the teenager said.

"Turn me round Harry I want to see you," Nikki called.

"Hello from the 102nd floor!"

"Morning," try and keep the thing still Harry and I can only see the bottom half of your face, lift it up a bit. Harry dutifully did as he was told revealing his whole face and his headwear.

"What the hell is that?" Nikki cried laughing and pointing at the screen.

"Nikki do you know how cold it is up here?"

"Yes but you seem to have ear flaps!" she laughed again her deep throaty laugh.

"Woah man she sounds hot!" the teenager grabbed his friend and tried to see the screen. "Where is she?"

"London," replied Harry.

"Hellooo London!" they called back.

"Erm hello," Nikki replied. "So I take it we're up the Empire State Building."

"Yes we are and we're not going to be for much longer or my fingers will freeze and I'll drop you, the temperature is in the minuses even on the Fahrenheit scale, it is REALLY cold Nikki, so quick look, there's the Chrysler building, the Brooklyn bridge, where the twin towers used to be, and the statue of Liberty beyond.

"It's lovely Harry," Nikki replied. She couldn't make out a thing but she wasn't going to tell Harry that.

"Any my apartment building is over that way, and the Park's that way."

"Ok Harry, enough whizzing me round, my head's not quite back to normal yet."

"Are you going to let me see your face today? I'll take you inside the indoors bit up here, it'll be a bit warmer. He bustled in through the door and found a quiet corner.

"Hmm, doesn't look too bad, how much make up have you got on it?"

"A bit," Nikki admitted.

"You were never going to let me see it properly were you?"

"No," she grinned. "Well my hat wearing friend; isn't it time you got home, those clouds out there looked like snow to me!"

"You think?" Harry asked, removing his hat now he was inside in the relative warmth.

"Definitely," she sounded certain, but she hadn't really seen anything at all from the webcam just the world weather forecast last night before going to bed.

"Woohoo, Hello London!" the boys screamed again as they passed Harry, their faces red from the biting wind.

"It sounds friendly," Nikki said.

"You know, sometimes it is; sometimes I really like it here."

"And at other times?" Nikki asked.

"At other times, it is totally and utterly cold; beyond freezing in every way you can imagine!"

"I'm sorry about Leyla." Nikki said, aware that despite his own crisis that week, she had monopolised a lot of his time and not really spoken about his problems at all.

"Don't be sorry, Nikki. I'm angry that she was just using me the whole time, but in some ways it's a relief. All that talk of marriage and the future. I spent hours trying and failing to picture it and now I don't have to worry anymore. I'm not sure I could ever really picture a future with her. I tried to visualise it, some bits seemed clear but there was so much I just couldn't imagine her there with me."

"So you could imagine some of it then?"

"Well not really, but I do have some goals, some aspirations, some things I just know will be.

"Like what?" Nikki said intrigued.

"Well as hard as it was to imagine Leyla in my future, I never had any trouble imagining you still being part of my life."

"Oh," Nikki replied, unsure really of what he meant. "You mean in forty year's time we'll still be Skyping each other every Sunday at one and telling the other who we shagged that week, and how many tablets we're taking?"

"Oh no!" Harry replied. Nikki pulled a face.

"There's no way we'd by Skyping at one," Harry continued. "I'm sure that would interrupt my Sunday roast at the rather smart care home I'll be in, I won't talk to you at one, something civilized like three-thirty would be much better," he grinned.

"So you'd move back to England for your dotage?"

"What?"

"This ritzy care home of yours must be in England if you're having lunch at one. That means you must be thinking about moving back sometime." Nikki explained.

"I suppose it does," he replied. It was amazing how a brief conversation with Nikki could reveal the meaning behind the thoughts he had.

"Don't you think we'll get fed up of each other by then? We won't really have stories to tell of who's been sleeping with whom when you're in your eighties will we?"

"We'll always have stories; I'll never get fed up with you, or your stories. This week's was a cracker. How many people do you think I know that can tell stories as good as yours?"

"They're not just stories Harry! It's my life!"

"I know! I will never get bored."

"What if I stop being hit on the head and left for dead quite so often?"

"You'd find something," Harry grinned. "With you, there will always be something."

"Are you going away for Christmas?" Nikki asked eager to change the subject.

"Yes! I can't wait, Florida here I come. I could do with some sunshine after this! Don't worry I'll take you with me, you can show Mum how Skype works and set it up for her on her computer."

"I don't know why you didn't show her before you left?"

"There are some things it's best not to attempt with Mum, teaching her the latest technology is certainly one. You'll be fine though. I promise. It's a mother son thing."

"Thanks Harry, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it so much now!"

"Of course you will, you'll have a brilliant time, you'll have turkey and all the trimmings and I'll be sat on a beach with a margarita and a fajita. I can Skype you both Christmas night, that will be fun! Do you think you could turn me round so I can watch the Christmas Doctor Who with you?"

"Harry!" she laughed. "Anyway I thought they showed it over there now."

"Maybe, I never bothered with the TV. I'm sure I can get it somehow."

"I hope you have a good time, you never know, you might meet someone."

"I might!" He paused. "Jorge has asked me to sing with him, he wants Beto and me to do backing vocals at his next gig!"

"Harry?! Did you say yes?"

"I did! We're going to rehearse on Tues, see how we get on. Did I tell you he's had the Christmas album on ever since Thanksgiving was over? I swear I know every song already!"

The computer began to get jostled and the other voices were making it hard to hear.

"It looks like it's getting busier up there, you'd better go."

"Nice to talk to you Nikki," Harry said.

"You too Harry, thanks for the field trip."

"See you in Florida!"

"Yes, see you in Florida."

"BYE BYE LONDON!" Nikki heard from the distance. She laughed and closed the connection.

* * *

**I'll be home for Christmas: Kim Gannon Walter Kent (Elvis)**

**Doctor Who is a long running SciFi BBC programme that always has a Christmas special; the irony this year being that Tom Ward played one of the characters in the Christmas episode. Sorry I just had to put it in and watching Dr Who on Christmas night is a very British thing to do.**


	26. Chapter 26 Silent Night

**Chapter Twenty-Six **

**Tuesday 25th December**

_**Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm, All is bright.**_

"Harry?"

"Nikki? Is that you? Are you still awake?"

"Hi Harry, I know I talked to you earlier but I saw you were still online and I couldn't get to sleep." She put the light on and balanced her computer on the pillow next to her and leant up on her elbow.

"It's ok, Nikki. I never mind talking to you and I'm still on the beach!"

"How many margaritas have you had?"

"Not that many. Not enough perhaps. Where are you?... Are you in my bed?"

"Strange, I thought you moved out years ago?"

"You are aren't you! You're in my room and in my bed! Is there nothing of mine you won't steal?"

"Harry this is not YOUR room anymore, I'm staying over at your mother's where else is she supposed to put me?"

"In the spare room?"

"This is a spare room, Harry. You had your own flat and you don't live here, remember? You moved to New York."

"Alright don't remind me. But the spare room was flowery and …."

"Full of ironing and the latest needlework project your mother's working on and a number of boxes of your books."

"Oh!" he paused. "I suppose that's alright then. Have you enjoyed the day? Thanks for going."

"It's been nice Harry. I've had a good time. And now I know your mum a bit better she doesn't remind me of you quite so much."

"Please tell me she didn't get the baby photos out."

"No, you're safe, but if I really can't sleep later there's a 1982 encyclopaedia of air transport to read on your bookshelf. It looks like it could be fascinating!...What?"

"I didn't say anything, and the Skype's holding pretty well."

"You gave me a look."

"I'm looking at you, of course I gave you a look, you just told me that that bed you're in is not mine anymore but then you said it was MY bookshelf," he retorted.

"Stop changing the subject! What's so special about that book?" She asked intuitively sensing what had changed Harry's mood.

Harry didn't answer.

"But you don't want me to touch it."

Harry continued not to answer but looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Why did you keep it?"

"It's the last present, Dad ever gave me," he said quietly.

"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry, I won't touch it I promise. I didn't know."

"It's ok Nikki, it was a long time ago, I'd forgotten about it until you mentioned it just then. You can read it if you want, it's not that I don't want you to touch it, I'd just forgotten it was still there."

"No Harry, it's fine, I'm sorry I mentioned it."

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, she had rung him back in the middle of the night and used the word 'fine,' there was definitely something up and it didn't take a genius to work out what it was likely to be. Genius as he was, he might know what the problem was but whether Nikki was going to tell him what he already knew the problem was, was more than even he could divine. There was a long pause.

"It's not getting easier, Harry,"

"I know Nikki," he said sympathetically. "I know how much it hurts. My dad's been gone for years and it still hurts, that book just proves it."

"It's just being on my own. I didn't see my dad at Christmas any more than I did at any other time of year but this year, this Christmas it's just…"

"You'll be ok," Harry assured her. "Thanks for being with Mum," he repeated acutely aware that with him gone, his mother would have been totally without family too. "Are you going home tomorrow?"

"No, your mum's friend Audrey has a drinks party on Boxing Day and her son is newly divorced, he's going to be there and he's supposed to be quite nice."

"Audrey?" Harry said, trying to remember who Nikki might be being matched up with. "Is he called Trevor?"

"I think so,"

"City Wan…..sorry City Banker!"

"Yes, that's the one."

"Good luck!"

"Thanks Harry."

Nikki yawned. "So you've got your tour of Kennedy Space Centre booked for tomorrow?"

"Yes, I can't wait. Do you want me to buy you a NASA ball cap?"

"No thanks, Harry. It's very kind, but not necessary."

"Thanks for the teabags,"

"You're welcome!"

"I didn't realise we were doing presents. We don't normally."

"Harry, it's fine. A box of teabags does not really constitute a great Christmas present."

"But it does, Nikki, most of the tea here is awful. It's the best present ever. Sure I can't tempt you with a hat?"

Nikki laughed and shook her head.

"Space Ice Cream?"

She shook her head again.

"NASA fridge magnet?"

Another shake.

"NASA lucky keyring? With special powers to protect you from villains and baddies of all varieties?"

"Lovely Harry, that would be wonderful."

"I'll see what I can do." He smiled.

"Harry?"

"Yes,"

"I think you might be burning."

"Really?" He looked down at his bare stomach and over his shoulders.

"You're probably right. I should go in and find some food and you should get some sleep. It wouldn't do to doze off midway through small talk with Trevor would it?"

"Harry?"

"Yes,"

"You can be a real bastard sometimes, you do know that don't you?" She smiled at him.

"Yes I do, but you seem to be the one that has stolen my room and MY bed, so what does that make you?"

"Goldilocks?" Nikki asked flicking her hair.

"Probably!" Harry chuckled. "Watch out for bears then! Night Nikki, see you next week. Hope you sleep well."

Nikki gave a wry chuckle. "I'll try. Night Harry."

"Happy Christmas, Nikki!"

"Merry Christmas, Harry."

* * *

**Silent Night: Franz Gruber And Joseph Mohr (Elvis)**

**I know it's not really Christmas…hopefully you'll forgive me. Thanks again to the lovely people who review.**


	27. Chapter 27 Auld Lang Syne

**Chapter Twenty-Seven **

**Sunday December 30th**

_**Should old acquaintance be forgot?**_

"Hi Harry."

"Hey Nikki, you look nice," commented Harry.

"Hmm, thanks, I'm going out later."

"Not with TREVOR?!" Harry gasped.

"I gave him my number,"

"AND?"

"And he called me!" Nikki said.

"Trevor?" Harry asked incredulously.

"When was the last time you actually spoke to him?" Nikki asked accusingly.

"Oh I don't know? Mum's been friendly with Audrey for years…"

"Trevor said you used to be quite good friends until you bowled him out in some cricket match one summer and crowed about it so badly that the two of you never saw eye to eye since."

There was a silence but Nikki could see Harry's brain working, trying to remember the incident in question.

"Yes, but that was because he spent his life going on and on about how he was the youngest school boy ever to be picked for the County team, so to bowl him out when he was supposed to be this elite sportsman and I was at best, pretty crap was a big achievement for me!"

"And?"

"And what?"

"There's definitely more to the story," Nikki insisted.

"My sporting prowess might have got me a chance to snog the girl I knew he fancied…"

"So you fell out over a girl," Nikki chuckled.

"And a cricket ball," Harry asserted.

"Did you like her?" Nikki asked.

"Trevor did, that's what mattered!"

"You are a disgrace!"

He laughed gently. "So he's grown up a bit since then?"

"He did mention that he was top of his gym's squash ladder."

Harry laughed harder this time.

"I tried to look impressed." Nikki admitted.

"Good for you Nikki, I hope you have a nice time. Going anywhere good?"

"We're just having drinks. We might do something on New Year's Eve."

"Make sure you like him Nikki."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I…I…."

"You think I'm only dating Trevor so I don't have to be alone on New Year's Eve!" she spluttered.

"And….? Are you?"

"No! Yes, Oh I don't know. Everything has to start somewhere, I could do a lot worse."

"Just be careful, OK."

"Oh and you are the master of all relationship advice. What right have you got to lecture me about my choices?" Nikki broke off quickly, it had only been a couple of weeks, it might be too soon to make jokes about Leyla, but Harry did seem reasonably thick skinned these days.

"So are you going to Times Square for the big night?" she said to change the subject.

"Well it's kind of compulsory really. I'm looking forward to it. I'm meeting some of the students about 10 and then I'll see how I feel. I can always go to Molly's."

"Has Jorge, got a gig that night?"

"No, but stating in January he's doing a regular slot on a Saturday night."

"Another gay bar?"

"Hmm yes, but the clientele is more mixed."

"What's it called?"

"It's on 29th and 2nd, it's not far actually."

"What's it called, I could check out the website?"

"It's only a few blocks from Molly's, that's the great thing about this district there's so much so close together."

"WHAT'S IT CALLED?"

"The Cock."

"Seriously?" He couldn't quite tell, but it sounded like she had made an odd snorting or hooting noise. Perhaps it was the Skype connection, it wasn't as good today.

"I thought the Americans found cock too rude, that's why they invented the word 'rooster,'" she teased.

"I don't know about that, the bar is called 'The Cock' and Jorge is really excited about it. He wants Beto and me to be his regular backing group."

"Have you been drinking?"

"Nikki, it's eight am on a Sunday morning!"

"You are going to do backing vocals regularly for a Colombian Elvis impersonator on a Saturday night at a gay bar called the Cock…. This I have to see!"

"Oh no you don't missy! And anyway Beto and I aren't on stage, we just do a few back-up vocals on a few songs, so it's not like I'll be there every week, it'll depend on what songs he is doing in his set. What?"

Harry looked at Nikki's face, even with the lag of the satellite response he could see how flushed it was from laughing at him.

"Oh, go ahead and laugh. At least I'm doing something different with my life."

"But Harry!" she squeaked out between guffaws. "It's just never something I imagined you even wanting to do. You take a great job in New York and pick a new hobby and it's … it's …it's just so …so …so…"

She broke off into giggles again and eventually muttered, "hilarious!"

Harry began to chuckle too. As much as he'd loved his trip around the Kennedy Space Center, the Wings over Miami exhibition and a bit of down time on the beach, Christmas had been just as hard for him as it had been for Nikki. He'd make sure he'd be at home next year, spend Christmas with his mum, he couldn't always leave it to Nikki to take care of her.

"Have you finished yet?" he asked a lopsided smile on his face. It had felt good to laugh; to laugh together. She was right, this time last year he would never have anticipated the amount of changes in his life. It did feel good to do something different, liberating and empowering but there was one change he'd wanted to make in 2012 that he hadn't achieved.

His idea of moving away to let her get on with her life, to let him get on with his. Had he really achieved that? She was seeing someone, that was true, even if it was Trevor. Were they moving on or were they just flinging themselves into situations where meaningful long term relationships were impossible? He was hardly likely to meet the girl of his dreams hanging out in a gay bar with Beto and Jorge, was he? And Trevor had already been divorced and as a city banker was hardly likely to share Nikki's altruistic nature. Each person they had found in the last six months had been even more unsuitable than the ones they had dated when they had been together in London.

"I'm sorry Harry," Nikki said wiping at her eyes. "That was probably a bit cruel," but another hiccup of laughter burbled out.

"It's alright Nikki, it's been good to laugh. Don't you dare tell Leo!"

"Oh," she said with a big pout. "Can I tell your mother then?"

"NO!" Harry shouted back.

"Well I have to tell someone, this is just too good to keep to myself, and I'm guessing you're not going to want me to tell Trevor."

"You wouldn't….."

"No I wouldn't, but I might have to tell Leo, he always asks how you are on a Monday."

"Alright, you can tell Leo. Enjoy your date Nikki."

"Thanks Harry."

"Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year to you too!"

"Oh and Nikki, just in case things don't work out with Trevor."

"Harry, will you stop making this sound like it has already ended before it's even started!"

"Sorry, I was just thinking, you won't have to be alone for New Year's, you can come out with me!"

"What you want to make sure you end up snogging the girl that Trevor fancies whether you like her or not!"

"I like you!" he countered.

"Well I'm not staying up until 5am to watch some ball drop in Times Square, in a crowded throng of New Yorkers! You'll probably get your ipad pinched anyway if you go waving it about in a crowd like that!"

"You're probably right."

"Of course I'm right!"

"You're always right," he conceded.

"I'll talk to you next Sunday then."

"Next Sunday it is."

"Happy New Year, Harry."

"Happy New Year, Nikki!"

* * *

**Auld Lang Syne: Robert Burns**

**Both Molly's and The Cock are genuine places in New York, I haven't been to them but I LOVE google :) The websites can give you the visuals if you're lacking description although one does have an adult rating. Think you're bright enough to guess which one! I didn't go further than the home page. Hope I'm not pushing Harry too far from your Harry comfort zone. I'd love to know if you think I've lost it, or the singing is as hilarious as Nikki finds it.**


	28. Chapter 28 Heartbreak Hotel

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

**Sunday 6****th**** January**

_**I get so lonely I could die…**_

1:05pm GMT Text Message

'Harry, you're not online, hope you're ok, bit busy myself call you next week.'

1:35pm GMT Text Message.

'You're still not online, call me if you're not ok.'

Harry tossed his phone onto his bed, he knew Sunday would be tricky but he just couldn't face Nikki today. It was stupid really, she would cheer him up and after the first couple of minutes he wouldn't have to act jovial, she genuinely would make him happy, but he just had no right, no reason to be happy so he ignored the messages and tried to go back to sleep.

The sleep plan didn't work, so he put on his running clothes and headed out towards Central Park, some brain and body numbing running should work at excising his demons today, or at least overload his brain sufficiently enough to not think about them.

5:15pm GMT Text Message

'I just realised what the date is Harry, I'm sorry. I'll call you at 6. Text me if you don't want me to.'

He didn't really want her to call, but he knew Nikki and she'd not leave it until she'd spoken to him. He'd got three quarters of an hour to make up some story to get rid of her quickly, it couldn't be that hard. He made up stories all the time, just like he made up the marks on his student's papers to fit with the NYU marking practices. So much for intellectual freedom and honesty. Or his other option was three quarters of an hour to get so blindingly drunk he couldn't hold a conversation with her.

"Hello Nikki," he answered when his phone rang at 1pm exactly.

"Hello Harry,"

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Fully aware that in all the years she had known him his father's death was one of the few topics they rarely talked about. He could talk about it to strangers but not to her.

"So today…" he began taking a deep breath. "I'm running in the park, it's cold, really cold still and the park is full of runners, and people walking with prams or feeding the ducks and I don't know any of them. None of them know me; I don't know any of them."

"Harry?" she wasn't sure where he was going with his train of thought.

"So, if I had gone to the top of that bridge that's on all the films, the one that goes over the lake and dived off the top, no one would have known who I was. Work would complain when I didn't show up on Monday, Ruby might give me a call on Weds or Thurs if I still hadn't come in and maybe Mrs Finkelstein next door would eventually notice it was quiet but no one, no one here would know. And it would be so quiet, just a splash and then the cold and then nothing."

"Harry!"

"Don't you ever think that? Nikki you must think that sometimes!"

"I try not to dwell on how lonely life can be Harry. And anyway what about Jorge? He'd have seen you go out and not come back. He would know. I would know." She added after a pause.

"How would you know?" Harry asked his tone mocking and cruel. "And Jorge doesn't work weekends."

"Because I would know," she said her voice low and steady and uninviting of disagreement. "You were almost gone before remember. I would know."

"Pah!" he replied dismissively.

"He had everything: a good job, a wife, a son, respect from his peers everything, he can't have thought that that was enough, that that was the end. I don't feel old. I don't feel as if I've accomplished half of what he achieved. How can that have been enough? How?"

"Harry," Nikki's voice was soothing this time. She knew exactly who he was talking about.

"I haven't got anything Nikki and I can face living another day. He had it all, he should have been happy. Why couldn't he be happy? Was I that terrible a son? That much of a disappointment to him? Maybe I'm just delaying settling down because I could have it all too and still not be happy, what if it's not enough? What then?"

"Harry," her voice was more business like now. "You have said it before, I've heard you. Your father got sick and died. He battled with his illness for years and eventually it killed him."

"Nikki!" Harry whined. "I say that because it makes people feel better!"

"But it's still true!" she countered.

"Why couldn't it have been enough? He was so young!"

"Harry you have to stop blaming yourself, even your father said it wasn't anybody's fault. Just because you're the same age now as he…"

"How do you know that?" Harry thundered interrupting her.

Nikki paused aware of the awakening of Harry's temper even with the miles that separated them. "You're mum mentioned it once," she said quietly.

Harry scoffed again.

"Do you enjoy it? Psychoanalysing me behind my back, with my mother?"

"Harry, I'm not going to talk to you if you're going to be like this. We do not talk about you behind your back. It was last September, we didn't really know each other and didn't have much in common except you to talk about, your mother asked me why I thought you'd left."

"What did you tell her?"

"I said you wanted new challenges."

"And what did she say?"

"She said you were probably scared of the fuss Leo and I would make of your birthday and that your father died when he was 39. It was only when I heard the news today that I remembered the date."

"Did you know there are more suicides in January than any other month?"

"Yes Harry I did. It doesn't make your father a statistic though. He was ill and he died. You wouldn't really have jumped would you?"

"No," he laughed grimly, "I know far more effective ways than trying to freeze myself to death in four feet of water."

"Good," replied Nikki.

"Good that I didn't jump, or good that I know better ways to top myself?"

"I'm not answering that," she said.

"Oh,"

"I am sorry Harry."

"Me too, sorry for being…for not… sorry," he stuttered, hoping she would know what he was actually trying to say. Her brief silence suggested that she did.

"Oh that reminds me, Jack apologised to me the other week."

"Mad Jack, the cage fighting forensics super geek?"

"I'm sure you wouldn't say that to his face."

"Damn right, I wouldn't but it sounds like I could add that to my list of ways to die," he said seriously.

"Harry!" she laughed.

"So what was the apology for? Dragging you through the sewer system?"

"No, for not believing me about the Ballinger case."

"The mad scientist,"

"The not mad scientist."

"That was good of him, things settling down a bit there then?"

"S'pose," Nikki said glumly.

"Now don't you go and get depressed on me, one at a time is all I can cope with!"

"Alright Harry," she answered. "Call me in the week if you need me."

"Talk to you next Sunday then."

"Yes, Sunday at one." She started to wave and remembered they were on the phone for once and disconnected instead.

* * *

**Heartbreak Hotel: Eddie J Cooley and John Davenport (Elvis)**


	29. Chapter 29 Star Spangled Banner

**Chapter Twenty-Nine **

**Sunday 13****th**** January **

_**Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave? O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.**_

"Hi Nikki! What's new?"

"Blimey you're chirpy this morning. Did you get lucky last night?"

"No, but I had a good night."

"Were you out with Jorge and Beto?"

"Yes, Jorge is really improving and he's getting quite a following. The bar was packed! He started talking about entering a competition."

"You've not been tempted to go out on stage yet?"

"No way! We just add a few harmonies in from backstage. We got another memo about professional behaviour again. I don't think singing in gay bars is one of the acceptable hobbies in the NYU professional behaviours document."

"They can't dictate what you do in your spare time."

"Oh but they think they can and this is the land of the free!" Harry laughed hollowly. "They'd be pretty pissed though."

"Is that in the English or American definition?" Nikki asked.

"Definitely the American," Harry admitted. "What about you?"

"More of the same. I seem to have an entirely different interpretation of the events and evidence to the rest of the team, AGAIN."

"Have they realised yet that you're always right and they'll always be wrong?"

"Harry?"

"What?" Harry asked non-plussed.

"How much of our lives did we spend arguing through the evidence of the cases and taking different sides?"

"Didn't we just do that for fun?" Harry asked seriously.

Nikki blew out a big angry breath until she saw Harry's smile and realised he was teasing her.

"He must be good, this Jack."

"How can you say that?" Nikki said.

"Well for you to get this riled up, to fight your corner, it's the way you do your best work, keeps you tight to the evidence."

"You think Jack's doing it on purpose to make me do a thorough job?" she asked incredulously.

"No, I doubt he's got the brains to work that out, not yet anyway but I bet you're getting results."

"Yes I am, but it is exhausting being on a different page to everyone else, all the time." She admitted.

"It'll come," Harry promised.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"You never took the opposite view with me on purpose just to make me work my corner harder did you?"

"Me!" he said with mock insult. "I wouldn't have dared!"

"So all those times we disagreed, it was because you genuinely disagreed with me!"

"Oh yes!"

"Even when I was right?"

"Especially when you were right!" He admitted and Nikki smiled.

"I seem to remember being quite good at apologies," Harry insisted.

"Maybe." She screwed her mouth into a wry smile. "How's the office?"

"Don't ask! We've got a new Dean, she thinks she can terrorise our entire department and many of the others."

"And?"

"She's the poster girl for NYU equalities: she was brought up in Harlem, attended public school, got her big break with some scholarship to Harvard on the affirmative action ticket and has fast tracked her way through academia since. She's younger than you and Dean!"

"You're just jealous!"

"Scared more like, her name is Candy, and she is not sweet in the slightest, she's brash and outspoken and anything said against her she always counters with one of her minority trump cards. 'I'm black, I was poor, I'm dyslexic, I'm a plus size woman,' she's untouchable."

"Can't you just keep out of her way?"

"Unfortunately not, she's working her way through our department amalgamating jobs, and allegedly raising standards wherever she goes."

"I thought you said, your students liked your classes."

"They do, but it doesn't mean Candy will."

"Candy, what a name! Well hopefully the vice chair of biochemistry will leave her alone."

"Why?"

"They'd be Candy and Randy!" Nikki laughed.

"Nikki! Just because my office is a soap opera, you don't have to laugh!"

"No, I'm sorry, it's just that with all that going on at work, it's making you spending your weekends with Jorge and Beto look positively normal!"

"I'm going to go now!" Harry insisted.

"Alright Harry, I'll tune in next week for the next exciting episode."

"You're not funny Nikki."

"See you next week then,"

"Next Sunday," Harry agreed, "Oh and Nikki?"

"Yes,"

"Sorry about last week… Thanks."

"You alright then?" she asked not really expecting him to answer.

"Better than I was."

"Good."

"Thanks for… for…"

"It's ok Harry, I understand."

He looked at her then; she really did understand. He hardly had to say a word and she knew. Hadn't she even said that last week? The she just knew. He wished it was more than a shared heartache and lifetime of tragedy that bound the two of them together. He wished it was something entirely different but that would never be, not now, he'd been the one to make sure of that.

"Harry?" he heard her ask.

"I think the Skype just got stuck," he lied, hoping it would mask the last few moments where he was evidently just staring at her.

"Next week then."

"Thanks Nikki," Harry smiled and switched off the connection.

* * *

**The Star Spangled Banner: Francis Scott Key**

**Special thanks to KiwiSFFan and owl-eats-waffles for their reviews and inspiring awesomeness. Come on the rest of you... I know you're there!**


	30. Chapter 30 Wooden Heart

**Thanks to everyone who popped in and said 'Hi' last time, thanks so much : ) Harry hugs to you all.**

**Spoilers for S16 E5&6 True Love Waits**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty**

**Sunday 20****th**** January**

'_**Cause I don't have a wooden heart.**_

"You OK Nikki?"

"Yes, just a bit tired that's all."

"How are things with Trevor?"

"Oh it's not that. We haven't seen each other again."

"You went for drinks at New Year's didn't you?"

"Yes, he was nice but…"

"Nikki, he's a banker, he's a…"

"Actually Harry, he was very nice but as soon as I started talking about work I could see he wouldn't understand what I did or why I did it. There was actually nothing wrong with him but it would never have worked out between us."

"You think he felt threatened by the idea that you spend most of your life with your hands inside other people's bodies."

"That's not how I described it Harry but you know what it's like…" She paused, "You did know what it was like," she corrected.

"I'm sorry Nikki."

"It's ok. Work's crazy it's not as if I have a huge amount of free time at the moment and it seems more exhausting than ever!"

"Are you still on a different page in the case to everyone else?"

"No,"

"You were right?"

"Yes," there was no crowing in her answer. "It didn't make the outcome any better."

"How so?"

"DI Warren, was shot dead."

"Were you there?"

"Not this time. She told me off, in front of everyone else, told me I was too emotionally linked to the case. She was driving me mad. She reminded me a bit of you."

"I would never have dared tell you that."

"Yes you did Harry, you still do."

"Alright then," he conceded.

"What about the girl, you mentioned a child in the email."

"She's back with her father."

"So it worked out alright for her."

"Her mother's dead! Harry!"

"But her Dad's ok isn't he?" Harry asked gently not wanting to turn this conversation into another one about the lack of parenting skills from either of their fathers.

"I thought I'd lost her."

"What?" Harry asked not following Nikki's wildly changing train of thought. "DI Warren or the girl?"

"The girl, her name's Emma. I took her to the swings, went to buy her an ice-cream, I turned my back for a second and she was gone. I couldn't see her anywhere. It was awful. I felt this wave of panic and nausea. I looked and looked and all the time I had this terrible icy foreboding feeling."

"You know that DI mentioned being too emotionally involved…"

"Harry!" she growled.

"Where had she gone?" he asked more gently.

"Oh, it could only have been minutes, seconds maybe and then I saw her at the top of this big slide. She was cross because I hadn't got the ice-cream. I couldn't even answer her. Just stood and stared at her. I thought I could do it Harry. Sometimes when I think of the future, I think I'd like to be a parent, I think that I'd be reasonably good at it, but I only had Emma for half an hour and I nearly lost her."

"You didn't lose her Nikki, she was there all along, you just couldn't see her; she was probably climbing up some tunnel. You would be a wonderful mother."

"I nearly lost Jack too," she said more quietly.

Harry had been hearing a lot about Jack recently. He had been glad at first that there was someone new on the team, someone that would look out for her, but his name was being dropped more often into their conversations and the occasional email, it was beginning to make him nervous and he wasn't sure why. He'd not really given Trevor a second thought but Jack…

"The psychopath Lane that had killed Emma's mother had Jack on the floor and a knife to his throat, he's strong Harry, Jack is really strong, but I could see he wouldn't hold him off for much longer."

"Had you gone off somewhere again without back-up? Don't you ever learn?" he asked crossly.

"Harry!" she exclaimed irritably. "I had Jack; the others were on their way. There was no time!"

"There never is," moaned Harry.

"That's easy for you to say, all you do now is drive a desk!"

"OK, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned it. Sorry. OK? So Jack's on the floor with a knife wielding psychopath bearing down on him and you're?"

"Just to the side protecting Karen."

Harry was in half a mind to ask who Karen was but he doubted he'd understand the answer so settled for, "What did you do?"

"Hit Lane on the back with a crow-bar."

"You did what?!"

"I just picked it up and swung it at him; I didn't really know what I was doing."

"You didn't go for his head?"

"No, he was evil Harry, but I couldn't. I just wanted him off Jack. I just needed it all to stop."

"I hoped he thanked you."

"Who?"

"Jack of course. You saved his life."

"Mmm, I s'pose I did. He offered to take me out for a pizza."

"Charming."

"It was pizza Harry!"

"Sounds like the least date like place he could offer. I bet you still turned him down."

"I did!" Nikki agreed.

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Because because do you need the whole list?"

"No, Nikki. It's fine."

It wasn't working. His plan for them both to move on with their lives. It wasn't working at all. So Jack might be a bit young, a bit rough and ready but he had googled enough about him to know that Nikki's list couldn't really be THAT long. He seemed a decent bloke. He had a lot more to offer than some of the men she had dated and he was fairly easy on the eye. Something would have to be done. "Look, I'm not going to be able to do next weekend. Can we catch up the week after?"

"Sure, I'm on call next weekend anyway."

"Ok, talk to you in two weeks," Harry said.

"Two weeks," she replied.

* * *

**Wooden Heart:****Fred Wise****, ****Ben Weisman****, ****Kay Twomey****, ****Bert Kaempfert (Elvis)**

**Dedicated to all the mum's out there who have lost sight of their child at the park however momentarily; it is a terrible feeling and I did feel for Nikki in her panic in that ep.**


	31. Chapter 31 Manic Monday

**Chapter Thirty-One **

**Monday 28****th**** January**

'_**Six o'clock already I was just in the middle of a dream**_

_**I was kissing Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream.'**_

**6am GMT 1am EST**

" 'Lo" Nikki said sleepily and grumpily into her phone; she'd been enjoying the dream she'd been having.

"Ah Nikki, you're alright."

"Why wouldn't I be alright?" She paused and looked at her clock. "Harry?"

"Hmm, yes it's me," he said sheepishly. "Sorry I woke you."

"Are you?" she asked petulantly.

"Not really."

"Harry! You knew I was on call yesterday, I don't have to be in until 9, why are you calling me at 6am?"

"I…erm…I?"

"Harry!"

"Look, I'm sorry Nikki, I think I was still a bit asleep too."

"You're phoning me in your sleep?" she said incredulously. "Are you sure you're alright, you sound a bit…erm…hoarse."

"I…I… erm…I?"

"Yes?" the annoyance was beginning to show in her voice.

"I…I…"

"Nightmare?" she asked.

"Yes," he agreed, relieved that she had guessed what had been bothering him. He hadn't had any for a while and this one had really shocked him.

"I was having a pretty strange dream myself. You want to talk about it?" she asked, pulling herself up on her pillows and resigning herself to the fact that the day had started.

"Nikki, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have rung, I haven't had one for a while it was just…it was just… so vivid!"

"It's alright Harry, I'm awake now anyway." She was trying hard to sound concerned but Harry could still detect a note of something in her voice. Something making it lower more gravelly than usual and it wasn't just the early morning.

"I don't really remember it, I could just hear you calling my name and I couldn't get to you, I kept running and running through this building and pulling things out of my way and however far I ran I didn't seem any closer and all I could hear was you calling to me, crying out for me. I was just so scared. I've not been scared like that for a long while Nikki. Why do you think I dreamed it tonight?"

"Oh, I don't know Harry, maybe something you watched on telly yesterday."

"I still haven't bought a TV." Harry admitted.

"Look, Harry I'm fine, maybe you were just thinking about that last case I told you about where I had to deck Lane with that crowbar; maybe you were trying to come to my rescue again."

"It was just so weird; I could hear you so clearly."

"Well I'm alright Harry, just awake earlier than I was hoping. Did you have a good day yesterday?"

"Yeah, it was OK."

"I thought you were doing something special, that's why we didn't Skype."

"Do you think that's why I had the nightmare?"

"What because we didn't Skype yesterday? I doubt it. So why didn't we? If you were around?"

"I…" There was a long silence. "I think I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it."

"Do what?"

"Get through a weekend without you."

"Oh Harry. Why would you feel you had to do that?"

"Oh, just something someone at work said."

"Candy?"

"Hmm mm."

"Since when did you care what people at work think of you?"

There was a pause.

"I'm sorry Nikki, I thought it was going to be easier than this."

"You have to move on, Harry. So move on."

"I'll try." He paused for a minute. "So what was your dream?"

"Mine?"

"Yes, you said you'd been dreaming too."

"Oh, I don't remember it now, just when the phone first went, I knew I'd been dreaming but not what I was dreaming," she blustered.

"Oh."

"I'll talk to you next Sunday then," Nikki insisted. "It'll be better than being woken up early on a Monday morning for you to get your fix!"

"Alright, alright, I said I was sorry." He still had the feeling that there was something he was missing. "Is there someone else there with you?"

"No, Harry, I'm on my own. What is your problem today?"

"Nothing, look I'm sorry I woke you. I just hadn't heard you call out my name like that before. It wasn't even like the other times when you were in danger, not that you shouted for me often. I just freaked out a bit, it was erm… different... Thanks for talking to me."

"It's ok Harry, but I'm putting the phone down now."

"Have a nice day," he said in an American accent.

"You too honey," she giggled back in a similarly bad accent.

"Talk to you next Sunday then,"

"Sunday at one."

Nikki threw her phone down on the bed, and felt the heat from her cheeks. How had he known? Had he really known? She'd told him the other week that she just 'knew' things about him, that she would know if he were really in trouble, but she didn't really believe that did she? She was a scientist. It wasn't possible. She hadn't really known in Hungary that he was still alive; she was just in denial, wasn't she? It seemed such a long time ago now sitting in that taxi, waiting to have her worst nightmare confirmed. The facts said he was dead, Leo said he was dead but she knew her heart hadn't given up, even as the tears flowed down her cheeks. She had to have something left to cling to in the same way that she still clung to her second hand faith. Something Harry always mocked her for but weren't there things in the world that science couldn't always explain?

Like this morning? Harry had phoned her and she HAD been calling out his name, just perhaps not for the reasons that he had assumed. She'd been having a fantastic dream until the moment the phone rang and she had lied when she had said she didn't remember it. She wondered if he would work it out. She hadn't given him any clues had she? And it wasn't as if she had purposely made him the focus of that particular dream, it was just hormones doing their job; wasn't it? Restoring a balance, a natural release? Calling his name indeed? She'd certainly been doing that and she had been loving every second. She had the feeling if she'd shouted any louder the neighbours would have heard too.

Never again, she promised herself. Never again.

* * *

**Just Another Manic Monday: The Bangles**


	32. Chapter 32 Candy Girl

**Chapter Thirty-Two **

**Sunday 3****rd**** February **

**Candy Girl**

"Morning!"

"Hi Harry, you seem very bright this morning."

"Why thank you!"

"Not you, the room, it's…it's…bright!"

"That'll be the snow, and the fact that the suns out."

"How much snow did you get?"

"About four feet."

"Four feet! Can you even open the front door?" she cried.

"Oh there's not much in the city but there have been some amazing pictures from the boonies. Here the pavement is cleared with snow blowers, Jorge was out most of yesterday morning clearing the front of the building so it's not the utter disaster that a few flakes are back home."

"It's still home then?" She asked pointedly aware of his use of American slang moments before.

"What?"

"You said back home…"

"I did?" Harry asked knowing full well what he had said. "I had Mrs Finkelstein round yesterday asking if I'd go out and get her dog more food. She didn't dare go out in case she slipped." He said to change the subject.

"I hope you did."

"Of course I did! What do you take me for? So I turned off the main street that had been snowploughed to cut the corner off and three people skied past me. It was really surreal!"

"Skiing in New York City!"

"It didn't tell me to look out for that in your guide book!"

"It was the pocket version!" she laughed. "So have you been snow bound for long?"

"Not really, we got to come home early on Friday, I caught up with some paperwork, did a bit of investigating."

"What on earth are you investigating? I thought you'd put your feet up from all that front line stuff?"

"Predators of the African plains."

"Pardon?"

"Predators of the African plains! Don't you remember you called me a hippo, and assigned various animal personas to the people in the office. I was trying to find one that would fit Candy."

"She's still winding you up then?"

"She's infuriating."

"There's a fine line between rage and passion," Nikki suggested and looked carefully for Harry's reaction.

"What?" she added when his horror struck reaction finally caught up with her speech on the Skype. "You said yourself she was young and successful and I'm sure she's attractive!" She could see Harry squirming. "What's not to like?"

"I'm not even going to answer that," Harry grumbled. "How did you know she was attractive?"

"What animal did you choose for her?" Nikki asked ignoring Harry's question.

"Well I thought the most venomous, hated and feared snake would be appropriate."

"If she's as bad as you say, that would work."

"I can't use it though."

"Why not?"

"Because the most venomous, hated and feared snake on the African plain is the…"

"Black Mamba!" Nikki interrupted exultantly.

"Exactly! If I ever let that slip to anyone, I'd be strung up before the disciplinary committee and hung out to dry for extreme racism and offensive language.

"Are they still that touchy?"

"Worse."

"You could always try the Cape Buffalo."

"What you've Wikipediered African Plains Predators too now have you?"

"Of course!"

"What's so good about the Cape Buffalo aren't they vegetarian?"

"It's horns can kill a lion and it's nickname is The Black Death"

"Are you trying to get me fired!" he shouted in mock outrage.

"I did a bit of investigating myself." Nikki admitted when she'd finished laughing at him.

"A new case?"

"No about your Candy."

"Oh yes and what did you find out?"

"I found out that her real name is not in fact Candy but Candida."

"What like the yeast infection?"

"The very one."

"I can see why Candy might be better," Harry admitted.

"And do you know what the subject of her PhD was?"

"She's a molecular biologist, by training I believe."

"But what was the subject of her PhD?"

"I don't know, some kind of cell culture thing, isn't that what molecular biologists like doing?"

"Any particular cells?" Nikki goaded.

"You're not telling me that not only is she called Candida, but the work that propelled her to this elevated status so young was an investigation into yeast and fungal infections."

"The very same."

"Nikki!"

"What?"

Harry rolled his eyes.

"I thought it might make you feel better," she said. "Picturing fungus is probably safer than any of the African predators with race sensitive names."

"So what you're saying is that Candy is the Athlete's Foot or yeast infection of the department.

"They're irritating, uncomfortable, stubbornly hard to get rid of and a pain in the .."

"I get the picture!" Harry interrupted. "It's perfect. Thanks." He thought back over the list of characteristics Nikki had just listed. "Actually it sounds a lot like you, when you first moved into the Lyell."

"Oy!"

"You WERE irritating. You asked uncomfortable questions. You were stubbornly hard to get rid of and a pain in the…"

"Alright I get the picture, I was so awful that your only means of escape was to move 3000 miles away, I know. But you still like me."

"Yes…"

"So maybe you'll like Candy when you get to know her."

Harry blew air across his lips in exasperation. "You can still be a pain in the…" he raised his eyebrow, "sometimes you know!" Nikki laughed and smiled in response.

"What about you?" he asked. "Anyone new on the horizon?"

"There might be," she said with a grin.

"Name?" interrogated Harry.

"James."

"Occupation?"

"Politician and property developer."

"Loaded?"

"Definitely."

"Full Name?"

"What are you going to do some research?"

"Of course!"

"James Embleton." There was a pause and the sound of Harry's keys clicking on his laptop.

"Blimey Nikki, he's got a title!" Harry stared at her, she was smiling. "Good for you Nikki. Let me know how it goes."

"Will do, talk to you next week."

"Next Sunday at one."

Harry stared at the page of information his search had produced and the picture of James Embleton, he wasn't classically handsome, a bit weaselly faced but his credentials out shone any of the recent bunch of suitors. He was happy for her but at the same time he felt his stomach clench. He'd make sure he went to Molly's tonight; that would provide the best distraction. Molly's was always busy, there would be plenty of girls he could be distracted by.

* * *

**Candy Girl: Jackson 5**

**A bit more of Nikki in this trio, hence Elvis has been given some time off for good behaviour...but don't worry he'll be back. (Just in case you're new to this, the songs at the top (if Elvis) are the ones playing in Harry's elevator in America. Any others you'll just have to imagine Nikki hearing on the radio. **

**So do you know where we're going yet?**


	33. Chapter 33 James

**Thanks to GreyLostWho and Tigpop for being star reviewers and inspiring the hug.**

**Spoilers for S16 E7&8, sniffle alert.**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Three **

**Sunday 10****th**** February**

_**And I must be a masochist, To ever take up with you, James.**_

"Hi Nikki,"

"Hello Harry,"

"You alright?"

"I take it you know the rough outline?"

"Leo filled me in; I'd forgotten how talkative that man could get when he was bored!"

"He's not been keeping you up?"

"No, for once I was grateful for the time difference. I'd forgotten how bad the politics is too. Sorry."

"Well your office politics is a jungle all to itself" Nikki added.

"I thought we were the African plains, not the jungle?"

"Whatever?" she replied; disinterestedly pulling at a piece of hair that had fallen across her face. "I don't want to hear it," she started suddenly.

"Hear what?" Harry asked taken aback on the defensive, not knowing what he'd even been accused of.

"That I'm better off without him, that he was a slimeball, that he only used me to gain access to the investigation, that he deserved his fate, that…"

"Stop!" insisted Harry. "No one deserves that Nikki."

She blinked and looked at him. All the things she had been berating herself with, all the things that had chipped away at her self-esteem over the last few days, all those things that were actually true and she'd just assumed that Harry would throw them back in her face. But he hadn't. He wasn't. He was just looking at her with that quiet look of his and those big sorrowful eyes, his head tilted slightly to one side.

"I'm sorry, Nikki."

Move on, isn't that what she was always telling him, move on. She would move on. She would get over this; she had tried to hold back, take it slow. For her, she had been really circumspect but James had seemed genuinely interested in her, and there hadn't been many of those lately. They could have worked. She looked up at Harry and thought back to all the times before he had left, when they had commiserated with each other over a broken relationship.

The face was the same, his eyes a picture of concern but his on the computer screen it seemed cold and detached. It struck her suddenly; she realised exactly what she was missing in all this. It wasn't James. It wasn't even the prospect of a relationship. It was Harry she missed most, the solid feel of his presence with her. His arms tight around her reassuring her that whatever crisis she was caught it, whatever heartbreak had ravaged her happiness again he was real, and warm and there in his arms she could dare to believe that she would get over it, she would find the strength to start again. She looked at him sadly. She really needed a hug.

"Leo told me; at least the end was relatively quick." Harry began before the silence and sadness became overwhelming. He saw the tears shine in her eyes. That man had treated her abominably Harry thought and yet she still cared enough to hurt at the thought of his last few hours of pain, terror and agony. "You didn't go and see him?"

"I had nothing more to say," she said simply. "Certainly nothing that could be said through three sheets of plastic and a hazmat suit."

"You're probably right."

"Leo was really worried," Harry continued. "He said he hadn't realised how much he cared about his job and his position until faced with the reality that it could all have been taken away. He was as surprised as anyone about his reinstatement especially after all that business with the files."

"At least he did that."

"Pardon?"

"James; it was the last thing he did. I made him promise to put right what he had done to Leo."

"It was you!"

"No, it wasn't me, it was James. I'd made some bad choices Harry, but I wasn't having Leo's career ruined over them. I made James put it right. I know he realised a lot of what he was doing but I do genuinely think at the beginning he didn't know. Not all of it anyway. He was just so desperate to impress his father. Maybe you and I are ok after all."

"How so?"

"We don't have to spend our lives trying to impress our fathers."

"No," Harry agreed sadly. "I might have to try and impress my mother though."

"What?"

"She wants to come and visit in the spring."

"That'll be lovely Harry. Don't you think?" Nikki said relieved that she no longer had to dwell on the disaster that was James.

"I don't know, she only told me about the idea yesterday. There is room for her to stay here, I can sleep on the sofa and we could go and do the sights, but it's not going to be like popping round for dinner, she'll be here for days! What are we going to talk about?"

"Oh Harry, you'll be fine. And anyway you can claim you have a prior engagement and sneak out with Jorge on Saturday night as usual. I'm not sure your mum would enjoy the bar! I looked it up, what a colour scheme!"

"You've not told her have you?"

"Of course not!"

"Good,"

"Is your mum coming out for your birthday?"

"No a couple of weekends after that, apparently she's helping Audrey do the flowers for some event or other that weekend. Jorge's still keen on entering that competition though."

"The Elvis impersonator competition is your birthday weekend?"

"Yep!"

"Have you told him?"

"I haven't told anyone!"

"What do you mean you haven't told anyone? It's your 40th birthday!"

"And you're going to be shouting about yours and announcing it publically for months in advance when it's your turn are you?"

"Maybe not," she agreed. "So where is the competition?"

"It's the North Eastern States Regional Final; they're holding it in Niagara this year."

"Oh Harry, you have to go!"

"I don't know Nikki."

"But you say he's good; right?"

"Brilliant!"

"Then why not?"

"It costs $200 to enter and we'd have to drive up to Niagara. Beto and I would probably have to go on stage, so we'd have to have some kind of outfit…."

"Oh, Harry you should go."

"Why are you so keen? You were the one laughing yourself silly and saying that my life was hilarious only a fortnight or so ago."

"Maybe I need a bit of hilarity," she admitted and her face fell, the despondency and flatness back in her voice.

"I'm really sorry about what happened," Harry said surprised to find he genuinely meant it. He wasn't usually sorry when one of her relationships ended. Maybe he WAS moving on? No that wasn't it. Nobody deserved to experience suffering like that and she had had more than her fair share already. She didn't deserve to suffer like that, just as James hadn't. He really was sorry.

"Thanks Harry,"

"Talk to you next week then?"

"Yes, Sunday at one."

She waved sadly and watched as Harry's face vanished from her screen. She could feel the warmth of the laptop under her wrists but it was no consolation. She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing to try and feel warm again but it did nothing to improve the coldness around her heart. She lifted her hand and her finger hovered over the mouse to reconnect; to see if Harry was still there. He would understand wouldn't he?

What was the point? She wondered feeling angrier now than upset; Harry had gone. He'd left months ago. She shut the machine down and went to find a particular jumper in her wardrobe. It would have to do. It was all she had left.

* * *

**James: The Bangles**


	34. Chapter 34 Devil In Disguise

**Chapter Thirty Four **

**Sunday 17****th**** February **

_**Heaven knows how you lied to me  
You're not the way you seemed**_

"You alright?"

"Me, yes fine. How are you?"

"I'm ok, Harry."

"So your house wasn't flooded with Valentines this week."

"No," she said coldly. "Your's?"

"Nada."

"You've been seeing someone though."

"How do you know that?"

"You're mum told me."

"Oh."

"I went round yesterday for dinner and to help her with her online ESTA application and tickets. I'm not really sure why she asked me, she didn't seem to have any trouble doing it herself. She had wanted me to sit with her and compare passport numbers to make sure she was putting the right numbers in but I'm not entirely sure why she needed me to bring my passport or why she couldn't have just done it herself. Self-confidence I suppose."

"So she's all set and ready to come."

"I think so, she insisted on buying an open ticket, it was much more expensive."

"I told you she always does; it's just how she is. Was the dinner good?"

"Delicious, although I think she was pretending to try and teach me to cook, because she kept sending me off to stir things when the computer was going slow."

"That sounds like Mum!"

"So who's the new girl then?" Nikki asked.

"Oh, it's over already."

"Not a match made in heaven?"

"Certainly not."

"What went wrong?"

"What always goes wrong? She was dating me!"

"Harry, you're not that bad. There must have been something that didn't work out between you."

Harry remained sullenly silent.

"What was it?" Nikki asked.

She could see Harry moving his arms and guessed he was picking at his finger nails.

"Come on tell me!"

Harry ran his fingers through his hair; he'd have to tell her. She'd never let up otherwise.

"She had a thing for doing it in the shower."

"And?..."

Harry just shrugged.

"Harry you're not telling me you've never done it in the shower before?"

"No, it was just that…. that…."

"Yes?"

"She had the water on so cold I could hardly concentrate!"

"Maybe she was hoping you would heat things up!"

"Nikki! It was freezing in there. I was turning blue!"

"Not everyone in the world attempts to parboil their skin in the shower."

"You do," he retorted.

"Harry how?" she began, but gave up. They had shared a locker room for almost as long as she could remember; it would seem obvious that along with everything else Harry would know exactly how hot she liked her showers just as she knew that he had his cranked up to the top heat setting too.

"The skin on your back was always red when you came out the shower."

"So you were looking?" she asked pointedly.

"Of course I was looking!"

"And?"

"You're beautiful, but you know that already." Harry was pleased to see that she had held his gaze but it was only a trick of the Skype, moments later he saw her head characteristically dip and her cheeks blush.

"So Mum was alright then?" he added to change the subject.

"Yes, she's really looking forward to coming, has she sent you the list of things she wants to do?"

"No, not yet. I'll guess I'll have that to look forward to."

"Are you going to Niagara next week?"

"Yes, Jorge is in a complete state. I don't know where he found the money from, because he had said he was skint but we have our entry ticket, a car and motel booked, we even went out yesterday and bought outfits for us all."

"Do Macy's do Elvis backing group singer outfits?"

"No, we've just got black trousers and jackets from some retro boutique in Greenwich Village that one of their pals works in."

"Well it will be a memorable birthday!"

"I might not be able to Skype next weekend; I don't know how busy we'll be."

"That's ok Harry, I've posted you a package, you might even get it before you go. Just send me a text and I'm sure we can phone even if we can't Skype."

"That would be good."

"Good luck then!"

"Thanks!"

"Have you told them it's your birthday?"

"No and I have no intention of it either, unless we get knocked out in the first round and have all afternoon and all night to drown our sorrows."

"I'll talk to you soon then, Happy Birthday Harry."

"Thanks Nikki."

She clicked the disconnect button and smiled. She knew exactly where Jorge had found his entry money and Leo had been only too happy to make a contribution towards the cost of the weekend too.

* * *

**Devil in Disguise: Christopher Hillman, Gram Parsons (Elvis)**

**(Mwah ha ha but who is the devil?)**


	35. Chapter 35 Happy Birthday

**Chapter Thirty-Five **

**Sunday 24****th**** February**

_**Happy Birthday to You**_

"Nikki!"

"What's that noise?"

"NIKKI?" Harry shouted louder.

"What?"

"Just look!" he yelled and turned his tablet round. "Can you see it?"

"YES!" Nikki screamed back, her voice blown by the wind and spray. "It's amazing!"

"Isn't it! There's just something so supremely ridiculous about that amount of water hurtling over that massive drop!"

Harry turned the tablet back and Nikki could see his grin.

"Hold on, I'm going to find somewhere quieter."

The webcam went black for a while, Nikki was vaguely aware of traffic noises but nothing else until Harry's face popped up again in the viewer.

"That's better; it's a bit quieter here."

"Happy Birthday Harry, are you having a good time, did you win?"

"We're not knocked out yet, we sing again tonight. I doubt we'll win, but there are some other categories, best ensemble, best newcomer; we could be in with a chance of one of those."

"I'm really pleased for you Harry, thanks for making the effort to get up."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Me neither."

"Thanks for the box of goodies, it was nice of Leo to find the most offensive card in the shop." Nikki smiled. She'd sent him a shoebox full of sweets, teabags, marmite and other British staples, along with the cards from Leo, her and Harry's mum. She wondered if Jorge had let the cat out of the bag about who had paid for the competition and the expenses of the weekend. She'd originally thought about booking him a helicopter trip over New York, but even the cheapest ones were over $200 and were over in fifteen minutes, anything longer and it was $1000. A cheap motel in Niagara was modest in comparison and Leo had been happy to chip in.

"Thank you," he repeated.

She looked at him quizzically, determined to wait until she was sure he knew before telling him herself.

"What? Have I still got blueberry muffin on my face?" he replied in response to her quizzical stare.

"Since when did you eat blueberry muffins?"

"Since the motel you paid for gives them out free for breakfast!" he gave her a loopy grin.

"So you know then?"

"Yes I know."

"How did you get Jorge to spill the beans?"

"Well when he arrived with an enormous 'You are 40' balloon, which we had to cram into the car with the three of us and all the stuff for the 7 hour trip, I knew someone had tipped him off, and as you were the only one it could possibly be it didn't take long to work it out. Thanks!"

"Well what better gift for the man who has everything than a motel with a couple of gay men and entrance to an Elvis competition. Life doesn't really get better than that!"

Harry laughed.

"Did you have fun?"

"It was brilliant. I thought I'd get fed up of everyone singing the same old songs the same old way. I had a nightmare that it would be like spending the entire evening trapped in the lift at my building but there was such a variety. I liked the 90 year old guy who sang and played the ukulele best. I don't know if he was intending to be funny but I laughed 'til I cried. Even Jorge was embarrassed of me!"

"I hope it goes well today then. Will you be back in time for classes tomorrow?"

"I cancelled the morning ones; I think the plan is to drive through the night. I should make it back to work by lunchtime."

"I hope Candy doesn't notice."

"So do I! Nikki?"

"Yes?"

"How did you manage to organise all this with Jorge?"

"Oh it was easy. I just dialled the main number for your building and after I'd convinced the sales girl that I wasn't trying to rent an apartment and I just wanted to talk to Jorge she transferred me and that was that."

"Nikki!" he chuckled.

"Jorge does sound like good fun, we had a good chat. He's sent me a couple of emails too; pictures of him on stage. He promised me one of you; has he been taking photos?"

"Loads!" Harry groaned.

"Good luck tonight then and drive safely!"

"We will. Thanks for everything Nikki."

"You're welcome; luckily you've got a few years yet to work out what you can do for mine!"

"Yours!" Harry spluttered.

"I think I've set the standard quite high!"

"What so now birthday celebrations are a competition?"

"Aren't they always?"

Harry laughed again.

"I'd better go,"

"Thanks for a brilliant birthday; I've had an amazing time."

"Glad you liked it."

"I'll talk to you next week."

"See you then, Harry."

Harry tucked his computer back in his bag, his hands were freezing. There were a few signs of spring, the trees were beginning to bud and as they had driven up yesterday there were flashes of purple blossom amongst the bare branches. It was almost like a mirage the more you looked the harder it was to see but if you just looked at the landscape the unmistakeable colour of purple decorated the trees at the edge of the highway, he'd never seen anything like it. It was still cold though and the wind at this time in the morning had made his hands chapped and red. He'd have to use that hand cream Nikki had put in his birthday box. He felt ridiculous using lotions and potions but the intense cold made his hands so sore.

What would he get her for her 40th? Hand cream and a packet of fruit pastilles wouldn't work and her birthday was years away, he hadn't really expected to be sharing his 40th with her; that had been the deal with moving away; move on, start afresh. But she still doggedly insisted on being part of his life, and frankly had she not he would have spent the day alone in his apartment or picking up a stranger at Molly's. Maybe his grand plan hadn't been such a great one after all.

* * *

**Happy Birthday: Traditional**

**So the clues are there my lovely readers, what's going to happen next?**


	36. Chapter 36 All Shook Up

**Chapter Thirty Six **

**Sunday 3****rd**** March**

_**Please don't ask me what's on my mind, I'm a little mixed up, but I'm feelin fine.**_

"So you did win best newcomer!"

"Yes we did!"

"Congratulations! What a weekend!"

"Thanks."

"Hello, by the way."

"Hi Nikki."

"So tell me all about it…" Nikki insisted. "Your email really didn't do it justice."

"We sang, the judges scored. It was very close, but apparently Jorge won through because of his stunning vocal technique!"

"So all those hours trapped in the lift with Elvis paid off!"

"Apparently so."

"I love the photo's Jorge sent me, did you see them?"

"No…" Harry replied nervously.

"The three of you look good, you look great; really great. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," Harry said almost as nervously as before.

"And you got back ok."

"Yes, I would have drifted off on Route 81 but Beto and Jorge started singing Colombian celebration songs and trying to dance in the car so I had no choice but to stay awake! It was slightly harder to keep my eyes open in class that afternoon but every time I felt them close I imagined Beto and Jorge doing their Cumbia dancing and singing in Spanish and I made it through until six."

"You part timer! That desk job is making you soft. Time was you could go for more than 48 hours with just a quick nap in the locker room on that dodgy bench!"

"Ah yes, but I'm getting old now."

"Alright Grandad!" she teased but then stopped. It wasn't funny and she saw that hint of sadness pass across his face.

"Sorry."

"Are you and Jack still disagreeing on everything?" Harry asked obviously changing the subject.

Nikki paused for a bit.

"No, come to think of it; we're not."

"Ah, the honeymoon must be over."

"Well that analogy doesn't work does it? Surely the honeymoon is when we're supposed to get along!"

"What would I know?" Harry said bitterly.

"It's only a couple of weeks until your mother comes out isn't it?"

"Yes, we'll probably not be able to talk that weekend."

"That's ok, I'll catch up the week after and I'm sure I'll go over to your mum's and she can show me all her photos.

"Thanks for looking out for her, Nikki."

"Are you alright? You seem a bit morbid this morning?"

"Oh, I don't know, last week was so amazing, just the whole craziness of it all and then winning as well. It was such a relief after all the tension before we went, and during the heats. I guess last weekend isn't easily repeated and so this one just seems a bit flat."

"It was your 40th birthday; it was supposed to be special."

"It was Nikki, don't get me wrong I loved every minute of it and I can't thank you enough for making it happen, but real life is just a bit bland."

"You've not got the showbiz bug have you?"

"Me?" Harry scoffed. "Nah…"

"Well open up the guide book randomly and go and visit somewhere this afternoon."

"Yes, m'am," Harry replied in his best American style.

"Well go on then she commanded!"

"But then you'll go."

"So?"

Harry opened his mouth, he didn't want her to go, he didn't want to spend another weekend on his own but the look on her face told him she wasn't in the mood to hear any more of his thoughts about his new life.

"You do still have it?" she asked.

"I still have it," he answered.

"I'll talk to you soon," Nikki waved at him and got ready to disconnect.

"OK, have a good day."

Harry disconnected and fished the guide book down from the shelf. He knew if he just let the book fall open which page it would fall open too. He placed the spine in his hand and waited.

'I love you too'

He should have been over her by now. He'd been gone over six months. What had he got to show for it? Two great friends who were in a relationship with each other, a fairly decent job, a nice apartment and now thanks to Nikki a vintage jacket and trousers suitable for winning best newcomer in a North Eastern States Elvis competition. Maybe he'd go down to Ellis Island, he'd not done that yet and it was supposed to be fascinating. Stories of other people's hardships settling down to a new life in America would have to make his life look rosy. Wouldn't it?

He looked up the opening times on his tablet only to find that the Museum and Island were shut until further notice due to the aftereffects of Hurricane Sandy. He picked up the guide book again in search of inspiration but stopped at the first page and read the other words she had written there.

'It's up to you.'

But what could he do?

* * *

**All Shook Up: Otis Blackwell (Elvis)**


	37. Chapter 37 Call Me Maybe

**Chapter Thirty-Seven**

**Saturday 9****th**** March**

_**Call Me Maybe**_

**3:15pm GMT Text Message.**

Hi H, Can't Skype 2mro, yr Mum wants me 2 go shopping with her 2 get ready 4 trip. I'll text when we're back. Enjoy your lie in.

**Sunday 10****th**** March**

**5:21pm GMT Text Message**.

Hope u enjoying lunch, I'm exhausted 2 tired even to call u. Yr Mum says she's been having dizzy spells. Seemed ok to me tho.

**1:23pm EST Text message.**

No worries, finished lunch clocks changed already. I'll call mum. Thanks Hx

**1:40pm EST Phone call**

"Hello Mum,"

"Hello Harry."

"How are you Mum? Nikki said you'd been having dizzy spells?"

"Oh, that girl does make a fuss, she's told you already! She can only have just got home. I had a funny turn earlier in the week and I didn't fancy facing Oxford Street all on my own, so I asked if she wanted to come with me. It wasn't as if I was asking for a chaperone because I was scared I would fall over."

"Oh," Harry replied. It was hard to infer much meaning from a text but Nikki was obviously more worried than Anne appeared to be. "Did you get too hot?" he asked.

"Too hot? It's March still darling, it's freezing, my daffodils had half opened and then another frost and a day of strong easterly winds and they're a disaster."

"I thought that's why you might have been dizzy."

"No Harry, I don't think that was it. It's really nothing to worry about. I'm so looking forward to seeing you next weekend. I'm a little apprehensive about the journey of course but that's just because it's been a while since I've flown that far."

"It'll be fine Mum and I'll be there to meet you at LaGuardia, you may even enjoy it."

"Nikki offered to house sit for me while I'm away, wasn't that kind of her? I was only mentioning the list of seeds I'd started off in the greenhouse and what a pain it was that my neighbours are away too, so that no one could put the dustbin away for me and she offered to drive me to the airport and then come back and house sit for me. She really is a lovely girl. I can't understand why you didn't pay her more attention when you worked together?"

"Alright Mum, I'm sure we've been over this before and next weekend you'll have days to cross question me about everything so let's not use up all our conversation before you arrive!"

"Don't worry darling, I'm sure if you get really fed up with me I could go and play cards with the OAP's in the lobby or go and chat to that nice neighbour of yours. I'd like to meet that dog that I can hear yipping from time to time."

"It will be good to see you Mum. I'll meet you at the airport at 6:30pm on Friday.

"I'm looking forward to it, Harry. Bye now."

"Bye Mum." Nikki had banned goodbyes and six months on and their conversations never ended with goodbye. It felt good to say it to his mother as if the conversation was actually finished not just going on and on like a recurring decimal.

"Bye Mum. See you on Friday."

* * *

**Call me maybe: Carly Rae Jepsen**


	38. Chapter 38 Suspicious Minds

**Chapter Thirty-Eight **

**Friday 15****th**** March**

_**So, if an old friend I know, drops by to say hello, would I still see suspicion in your eyes?**_

Harry had been surprised how quickly he had made it out to LaGuardia, it was notoriously difficult to drive to and park at. He had given up on the idea of hiring a car for the weekend and taken the subway and the bus instead. He had become a pro at using the New York subway but catching a bus in Queens didn't thrill him with excitement; he decided to catch a cab back with his mother. It was still only 6:15pm. The display boards had indicated that the plane had landed but the time it took to get through immigration and then through the baggage check, he didn't really expect to see her for another half hour at least. He was surprised at how nervous he was. He hadn't spent an entire weekend with his mother since the Christmas before last and a lot of the time then he'd been asleep.

It wasn't just how the two of them would get on that was making him nervous. His mother had never passed judgement on his decision to move to New York and now seeing it for herself, he wanted to know if she approved. If she would see he was happy. She would see he enjoyed his job and his new life. Wouldn't she?

He watched the people emerge from the door that heralded the international arrivals, the tearful reunions, the overexcited children. The banners welcoming loved ones back in languages he couldn't understand. New York was a lot like London in many ways, he liked the mix of people and cultures, he liked the crowds and he liked the buzz of the big city but New York superceded London in many ways too, whatever London had New York had more of, or bigger of or a more intense version of and sometimes he liked this too, sometimes it just got on his nerves.

"S'cuse me, are you done waiting there?" he heard someone ask a man three rows ahead of him and right up against the barrier separating the airport collectors from the collectees.

"An, what if I'm not?" the man snarled back.

"I was thinking you could move up mister and we could fit a whole bunch more people up front there."

"I was thinking you could mind your own damn business." He turned away from her and leaned against the rail took up as much space as was possible. The door opened again spilling another collection of travellers into the concourse.

"Loretta! Hey girl, you are lookin' FINE!" the woman with the big mouth shouted across to her friend in the advancing group, they hugged and walked off together but not before the woman with the mouth had given the space hogging man a filthy look. Harry saw the people near the railing breathe a collective sigh of relief, that conversation could have turned ugly very quickly if Loretta hadn't turned up at that moment. It reminded Harry of how much he missed the enforced silence of London.

He looked out across the crowd of unknown people. When he had first moved to New York he was always spotting her, especially in crowds. Not just her, Leo as well, his brain playing tricks on his vision. Someone would stand out as he walked down the street, a mass of blond curls or twist of a head and he would imagine that people he really knew were there around him. It had been a while since he had thought he'd seen Nikki. It was never his mother he spotted. He bounced up on his tiptoes to see the latest group to enter the hall. She wasn't there. It was still early, but he was making his way closer to the barrier where he would get a better look.

He tried to guess from the dress of the people which flight they had just 'deplaned' from. Standing next to the display board gave him plenty of information. The plane that had touched down just before the Heathrow one had come in from Lagos. He was fairly confident he had spotted some of them make it out through the door.

The movements of the people arriving, connecting with their loved ones, or driver and moving off was a little like watching waves flow up and onto a beach, and as more people moved off Harry found himself swept forward and propped up against the waist height barrier. The man that had been spoken to earlier for barrier hogging was still there. Harry wondered about commenting on his long wait, but there was something in him still too British to strike up a conversation in a public place with a stranger.

His phone vibrated in his pocked. It was probably Candy checking up on him. He'd okayed his early departure with Scott Volosin, but it didn't mean that Candy still wouldn't make a fuss. He was surprised to see it was from his mother. They were really pernickety about when they allowed phones to be turned on in the airport. He opened the message.

'_Hi Harry, Sorry to disappoint you but dizzy spells worse, have got dreadful ear infection, couldn't fly. Sent you a belated birthday present instead. Love Mum xxx'_

Harry stared disbelievingly at the small screen in his hand. She wasn't coming? She hadn't texted earlier? She must have known last night she wouldn't make it, she could have called him; she could have rebooked the flight. She always did buy those open tickets. Why had she waited until now to tell him and what was the bit about a birthday present? He hadn't received any packages. He stared helplessly at his phone willing it to reveal the answers that all seemed impossible and crossly thought about his wasted journey. His mother usually wasn't this unreliable. It really wasn't like her at all. He was so still and focused he didn't notice someone come to a stop on the other side of the barrier to him.

"Hello Harry," he heard.

Harry looked up. His mouth opened and then closed again. He looked back down to his phone as if for inspiration and back up to the woman in front of him.

"Nikki?" he croaked.

"Harry!" Nikki smiled.

"NIKKI!" he choked out again and flung his arms around her but almost immediately pulled away again.

"How? Why? Nikki?" The words that tumbled out of his mouth made no sense but they made Nikki grin.

"Have you two love birds gotta home to go to? I can't see diddly from back here!" Harry felt a push from behind him and slithered along the railing to meet Nikki at the end.

"You're here! In New York!" Harry realised he was babbling.

"Harry!" Nikki said again and without the barrier to hinder them pulled him into a proper hug.

Harry pulled back for an instant to look for her baggage, "Where's your stuff?"

Nikki indicated the small bag on her back. "I didn't have much; I thought I was house sitting at your mother's."

"How?" Harry stumbled again, but realised that they needn't be standing in the airport in front of four lines of stressed relatives any longer and started to guide her towards the exit, slipping an arm into hers as if they'd never been apart.

"I went over to your Mother's this morning to drive her to the airport as we had agreed and she was in a real state, clutching her ear and showing me the pills the doctor had given her for her ear infection and somehow between arriving to take her to the airport and twenty minutes later with talk of open and transferable tickets she had put me in a cab to Heathrow, paid the cabbie and stood at the gate cheerfully waving me off."

"But did you have your passport, what about your ESTA."

"I think…" Nikki began but then paused she didn't want to accuse Harry's mother of duplicitousness but she had her suspicions.

Harry stopped too, stopped still in the middle of the concourse and stared at Nikki.

"The birthday present!"

"What?"

"The package she was sending me!"

"Harry, I think your mother might have been…." Nikki began.

"Planning this all along!" Harry finished. Now that did sound more like his mother.

"Welcome to New York," he said excitedly flinging his arms wide, and spinning around gesturing to his surroundings all the while mentally adjusting to the changed circumstances of his weekend.

"Thanks," she smiled and let out one of those chuckles that did unmentionable things to his insides.

They walked a few more yards and Harry came to an abrupt halt again.

"You're here! It is so good to see you!" he said wrapping his arms around her for the third time in as many minutes and holding her close to him. "I have really missed you."

"Me too, Harry," she said and looked up into his eyes. They had talked constantly for the last six months, still been the best of friends, but here arms wrapped around each other and looking into each other's eyes, something more than friendship flickered once again between them.

"This!" murmured Harry under his breath his eyes widening, sensing the change just as clearly as she did. "Do you want to take a cab, or are you up for an adventure?"

"Well for me it's quarter of eleven and I'm spending the weekend in the city that doesn't sleep. What do you got in mind?" Nikki asked in her best American accent. They linked arms again and headed out towards the taxi ranks.

* * *

**Suspicious Minds: Mark James (Elvis)**

**Extra Harry hugs for reviewer 100: it could be you! Might be a little bit longer before the next bit goes up, but it leaves you plenty of time to imagine what happens next!**


	39. Chapter 39 Stuck On You

**Sorry for the long wait…I had a special request not to disrupt exam week… Good luck to all of those still in the middle of exams.**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Nine**

**Friday 15****th**** March**

_**You can shake an apple off an apple tree, Shake-a, shake, sugar, But you'll never shake me  
Uh-uh-uh, No-sir-ee, uh, uh  
I'm gonna stick like glue, Stick because I'm Stuck on you**__**  
**_

As Nikki was hardly weighed down with luggage, Harry took her straight to Molly's.

"They're not all going to shout your name when you walk in; are they?"

"This is New York, not Boston. It's much easier to be anonymous here."

"You? Anonymous?"

"Well they're not all going to shout 'Norm!' if that's what you're asking?"

"Good, because you're called Harry." She punched him playfully on the arm. He rubbed it ostentatiously.

"Yep, I've definitely missed you! Is Jack covered in bruises all the time from your punches?"

"He's often covered in bruises but not from me."

"What makes him so special?"

"Surely you're the special one?" but Nikki's comment was lost as Harry pulled open the black M embossed door of the pub and ushered Nikki inside. They were blasted by warm air and the smell of an open fire. Nikki looked around at the oak panelling, wooden chairs and sawdust strewn floor. There were shamrock decorations everywhere, leprechauns, pots of gold, leprechaun hats…

"I did get off at the right stop didn't I? This is New York not Dublin isn't it?"

"Yes, it is New York. They have done a reasonably decent job of making it look authentic. It's not been voted New York's best Irish pub for nothing. I'd forgotten it was St Patrick's day though. Are you up for a Guinness?"

"Ugh, Harry no. Will they do me a shandy?"

"They might if we explain it to them. If not we'll just get a pint, a lemonade and ask for an extra glass and do it ourselves."

Nikki laughed, she had been amazed on the journey from the airport just how like America it really did look. You see it on the films all the time, but she always had the suspicion that it didn't all look like that and somewhere just out of shot there would be a hideous 60's concrete housing estate but it all looked just like it did on the films; all except this pub and this most definitely looked closer to home.

"Hey Doc!" an elderly man called out as Harry pulled out a chair by the low bar for Nikki and took the next for himself. "How're y'doing?"

"I'm good Art, thanks. How are you?"

"I'm sticking to me diet and my PCP is really pleased with me."

"That's great Art, I'm happy for you."

"What can I get you?"

"Can we have two lager shandies please?"

Art raised an eyebrow.

"A bud with sprite on the top." Harry explained.

"In the same glass?"

Harry nodded.

"Kelly, can you get the doc his drinks please?" Art leant on the counter; it was obvious he wasn't going to move soon. Nikki looked up at Kelly the bar maid. She looked familiar somehow but that couldn't be true. Despite the typical looking surroundings of the pub, she was 3000 miles from home, everything and everyone was foreign except Harry and it had been six months since she had seen him, he could have changed too.

"Who's you're friend? Any friend of the Doc's here is a friend of ours at Molly's." Art said with a smile looking at Nikki.

Kelly placed the drinks down in front of them, looked at Nikki through slitted eyes and took the $20 bill Harry held out in his hand.

"I'm his sister, I came to visit." Nikki blurted out suddenly remembering exactly why she recognised Kelly. She was pretty sure Harry wasn't still seeing her but a lot of life can be edited out when you only talk for twenty minutes once a week and this was obviously a place he felt comfortable, she couldn't be too careful.

"Nikki Cunningham." She stated calmly and offered her hand to Art. "Pleased to meet you."

Art shook Nikki's hand and looked from Nikki to Harry and back again.

"Well don't you be askin' me to see the family resemblance now, you two must have come from different shelves, as they say but I'm happy that the Doc here has some company. I've not seen him with someone quite as beautiful for a long while, even if it is his sister. Are you in town for the parade?"

"The parade?" Nikki asked.

"Yes, the parade. The New York St Patrick's day parade first marched in 1762, it goes all the way up 5th Avenue from St Patrick's Cathedral to the Art Museum on 83rd."

"Are you sure I got off the plane in New York?" Nikki leaned over and whispered in Harry's ear. She could feel him staring at her; he'd been doing it from the moment she'd said she was his sister.

"I'm here," Harry replied with a characteristic shrug of his shoulders. She'd missed his expressive body language; Skype just didn't do it justice.

Kelly returned with Harry's change and finally Art left them to enjoy their drinks.

"Why did you say that?" Harry hissed.

"What?"

"That you were my sister?"

"Because the morning you woke up with Kelly in your bed, we kind of agreed between the three of us that you were talking to your sister.

"I don't remember agreeing that?" Harry stuttered.

"I was worried she'd remember me. That would make me your sister. If she recognised me…"

"I don't even think she was conscious enough to look!"

"I wouldn't be sure of that. I didn't want to land you in trouble again. I know it was ages ago. Look I'm only here for the weekend; I just didn't want to mess up your life."

Harry took a sip of his drink, he didn't know what to think. In a way he was touched by her kindness not wanting to ruin his reputation with Kelly even if their relationship did just amount to a one night stand months ago and now some friendly banter at the bar. But there was something else. The way she had introduced herself using his name. His stomach had lurched and he had been reminded of that awful party before he left, the one he'd spent vomiting his guts up in the locker room. This feeling was similar. He was supposed to have left, to have moved on, gotten over his feelings for her. But if his reaction just now to her joining their names together had been any indication. It hadn't worked. It hadn't worked at all and the feelings he was experiencing now were anything but brotherly. He put his drink down and hoped she didn't notice how badly his hand was shaking. Nikki Cunningham!

"You could never mess up my life," he said seriously but not daring to meet her eyes. He then turned to her and asked, "Do you want some food? I know it's the early hours of the morning for you, but it might help with the jet lag. The burgers are good," he hoped he'd been able to modulate his voice as much as he had controlled the trembling in his fingers.

"What percentage horse are they?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh it's the latest food agency scandal, someone's finally discovered that in everyone's frenzy to eat cheap food, corners have been cut and we've all been eating horse for years, especially the burgers. Watch out for frozen supermarket lasagne."

Harry laughed releasing much of his earlier pent up emotion.

"You didn't know! You've finally stopped listening to 'The Today Programme' on Listen Again!" Nikki said triumphantly.

"I guess I have or maybe they have more important things to discuss. Who do you think will win the Eastleigh by-election?"

"What the one after Chris Huhne resigned?" She asked raising a quizzical eyebrow. Harry gave her a characteristic grin. "I take it back," she admitted. "You're still listening to Radio 4 AND reading The Telegraph?"

"Is there another newspaper?"

"I hear the New York Times is good," she said, shook her head and gave him a rueful smile.

"I'm glad you're here Nikki."

"Me too."

"What do you want to do tomorrow? I booked a boat trip around Manhattan for Mum, but we don't have to do it."

"It sounds perfect Harry; do we get to go under the Brooklyn Bridge?"

"Yes!" he grinned. "You might have to pretend your name's Anne Cunningham if they check stuff like that."

"I get to be your sister and mother in one weekend," she laughed. "The boat trip sounds a brilliant idea. How about those burgers? I'm starved."

"Enough to eat a horse?"

"Very funny!" she laughed and batted him in the arm again.

"Come on, let's find a table, or should that be stable?"

He heard her laugh again, but he moved too quickly for her hand to connect with his arm this time. He'd really missed hearing her laugh. He looked around at the empty tables in the pub, there was one over by the open fire, he took her arm and briskly steered her to a table near the window.

* * *

**Stuck on You: Aaron Shroeder Leslie McFarland (Elvis)**

**"Norm!" is a reference to the TV show Cheers, set in a Boston pub...it was big in the 80's. I know before most of you were born...I'm just showing my age again.**


	40. Chapter 40 One Night

**Chapter Forty**

**Friday 15****th**** March**

_**One Night with you, Is what I'm praying for**_

It was late when they left Molly's; really late for Nikki, or maybe it already qualified as early and the cold walk home had momentarily woken her up.

"Hi Miguel," Harry called to the night doorman, as they made their way through the lobby.

"Hi, how'reyoudoin'," came the standard reply.

Nikki was too tired to notice the odd exchange. "I like your building; you never told me it was so swish."

"It's just the lobby," Harry replied and dipped into a side room to check his mail box.

"Do I get to experience the infamous lift music?" Nikki asked; her cheeks still rosy from the cold.

"I dread to think!" Harry muttered as the doors opened.

"_The things we two could plan,_

_Would make my dreams come true."_

Elvis crooned and Nikki giggled.

"How do all the residents put up with it?" Nikki asked as the doors opened on his floor. Outside the lift were a couple of easy chairs and a small table, it gave the place a familiar lived in look.

"I think some quite like it although I suspect that they just have a highly evolved mechanism that just tunes out auditory input. I've found evidence for it with my students. I might even start thinking of writing a paper on it."

"Listen to you!" Nikki laughed and then yawned.

"You must be exhausted!" Harry commented.

"Hmm, But I am in the city that doesn't sleep," she murmured.

"Yes, but then you'll feel like crap all day tomorrow. Time for bed sleepy head." Harry put his keys into his front door and opened the door of his apartment, standing to the side to let her enter. She walked in and crashed into something in the dark.

"Oh, yes light switches, for some reason they're not popular here, or not placed on the wall by the door. Sorry." He walked over to a side light and turned it on. Nikki had fallen over a fold out put you up bed.

"Oh, Mrs Finkelstein must have left it, and got Jorge to put it in here for me. She uses it when her grandson comes to stay."

"You were going to let your mother sleep on that!" Nikki said surprised, looking at the antique metal and more than aged mattress.

"Well actually I thought I'd sleep on it." He caught her eye. Nikki yawned again.

"Just get in the bed," she said, her eyes almost closing as another wave of tiredness hit her.

"I'm not letting you sleep on that pile of junk!" Harry cried moving it out of the way behind the sofa.

"I wasn't planning to," Nikki replied and started rooting through her bag for her toothbrush.

Harry stared at her for a moment, surprised that she was suggesting what he thought she was suggesting.

"What?" she asked in response to his curious stare. "Are you afraid of me?"

"No?" he squeaked.

"So what's the problem?"

How he had missed her! There was a problem; there was a solution; it was sorted, that was Nikki. That was his Nikki all over, none of the dramas of some of the women he'd met recently just a scientific analysis of the facts and a presentation of a solution. But was she his Nikki? Did he want her to be? Had he left it too late? And what was the point when she would be gone again in a couple of days. This could be the longest weekend of his life.

"I don't want to be kept awake if you wake up early!" he chided in the vain hope that he might put her off the idea and offer to take the sofa, it was much more her size.

"You always said, I didn't wake you!"

"I lied," Harry grunted with a grin.

"Really?" she replied in an equally sarcastic tone. "Not much chance of me keeping you awake I fear," Nikki yawned. "What's that?"

"It's a desk Nikki, you may have seen one before they're somewhere you can work, they tend to have a flat part, some drawers and legs to keep them further off the floor."

"It's huge!"

"I like to spread out."

"And TIDY?"

"Well we all know why our last desk was messy." He stated.

"But you've got two chairs!"

Harry coloured slightly, it was true he had a supersize desk and a chair on each side. "The sun comes in brightly through that window; the shine can be awful so sometimes I like to face the other way."

"The chair has wheels; you couldn't just wheel it round?"

"It was part of a package, I told you I've rented the furniture and the double executive desk came with two chairs," he explained.

"Oh," she replied, in way of answering and headed for the bathroom.

He'd not even shown her where it was, she'd just walked in the door and made herself at home, well after tripping over a z-bed and being rude about his desk. Looking at it afresh it did look similar to their old office space at the Lyell with a chair on each side. He wasn't surprised she had spotted the similarity but it had never really struck him before now. He stood staring in the direction she had gone for a while. When he finally moved he went to the kitchen and poured them both a glass of water and took a half empty bottle of melatonin off the shelf.

"Here," he said, tossing the bottle of pills to her as she emerged from the bathroom already changed.

"What's this?"

"In case you wake up early, it can help with the jet lag."

"Melatonin? You can just buy this in the supermarket here?"

"Yes."

"I don't really want to get over my jet lag too much. I'll be back at work on Tuesday."

"Hmm," said Harry as he made his way to the bathroom. If he waited long enough maybe she'd already be asleep when he had to climb in to his bed next to her.

* * *

**One night with you: Antonio Reid, Kenneth Edmonds (Elvis)**


	41. Chapter 41 With You

**Chapter Forty-One. **

**Saturday 16****th**** March**

_**Just call my name, and I'll be right by your side**_

"Harry?" Nikki called loudly, accenting the 'ee' sound at the end. "Which one of these cereals is actually worth eating?"

"Don't mind me, I'm awake," he called back from the bed.

"Oh, sorry I thought I heard you."

"I think Mrs Finkelstein probably heard you!"

"Sorry, the cereals?" she asked holding a packet in each hand as he appeared in the archway to the kitchen area in a t-shirt and pyjama trousers.

"I'd go left if I were you," Harry suggested. "You wake up early?"

"Not bad, I slept in until 7:30." She said, shaking the cereal box in her left hand and sniffing the contents.

"I'd have been at the office half an hour already if this were a work day, I still haven't fathomed why they all think 8am is the acceptable start to a work day."

"Here, I made you tea," Nikki said handing over a mug. "What's the matter?" she asked seeing his disappointed face. "I thought you liked tea."

"I was down to my last few bags," he admitted sadly.

"Not anymore!" Nikki announced and pulled back the cupboard to reveal a super value size box of his favourite teabags."

Harry's mouth goldfished for a while. "You are too good for me!" he said when he finally recovered the power of speech.

"Not bad," Nikki said with a mouth half full of cereal and purposely ignoring his compliment.

"I'm going to get dressed, you'll be alright?"

"As long as there's no nasty surprises in the cereal." She replied prodding it with her spoon.

##

"Back in ten minutes," he promised and disappeared to the bathroom.

"Here put this on," Harry said as they were almost ready to leave and tossed Nikki an overcoat from his closet. "It looks freezing out there."

"But it's brilliant sunshine!" Nikki commented.

"Looks can be deceiving, you'll be glad of it on the river." He pulled an extra scarf out and tossed that to her too. "You really didn't bring much stuff did you?"

"I bought teabags! I was expecting to be house-sitting at your mother's for the millionth time!" she replied and rolled her eyes at him. "Now your mother has her heating allowance from the government it's like the mini tropics in there."

"Thanks for coming," he said, also for the millionth time.

"I'm glad to be here."

"Now, we need to face the subway if we're going to make it to Times Square in time to get the boat."

"Times Square doesn't sound like a place to catch a boat? Isn't that the one with all the lights?"

"Yes, we have to walk down to 12th Avenue to get to the pier."

"Your mum would have been really impressed. It's a shame she couldn't come."

"Hmm," said Harry as the lift doors opened.

_'Now I know that life without you _

_Has been too lonely too long.'_

Elvis was still stuck on One Night With You. Nikki didn't comment, just raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you hiding under that awful coat?" Said an accusatory voice as they rounded the corner into the lobby.

A tall tanned man, with thick black hair and a handsome face emerged from the room next to the doorman's window.

"Mrs Cunningham?" the man asked.

Nikki looked up, realising who it was before even reading his badge.

"Jorge!" she shrieked.

Jorge looked blankly for a while, looked to Harry and then back to the blond woman in front of him.

"Nikki?"

"The very same!"

In an instant he had swept her up in his arms, lifted her off the floor and spun her around and around. "Harry tells me his mother is coming for the weekend, he can't sing this weekend because his mother is in city; we cancelled our regular slot! He doesn't tell me that YOU are coming. You are the reason we went to competition. You are reason I win best newcomer act. You! You! You! He plonked her down grabbed her cheeks with both hands and kissed her loudly on the mouth. You are the most wonderful woman in the world and you are so beautiful, he pushed her back to full arm's length to complete his survey of her. Harry did not tell me you were gorgeous. Why are you wearing Harry's horrible old jacket?"

Nikki blushed scarlet and caught Harry's unamused glare.

"Harry's mum was supposed to be coming; she became ill at the last minute and sent me instead."

Jorge cocked his head and gave Harry a disbelieving stare.

"But why are you wearing Harry's dreadful clothes?"

"Harry says it will be cold on the river. We're going on a boat trip. I only thought I was going to house sit at his mum's for the weekend, not come to New York. I hadn't packed anything much."

"If you want to know cold, you should climb the mountains in Colombia, then you know what cold is! I could take you, we could go to my village, it is very beautiful. Just like you."

"Jorge, why are you here? I thought you didn't work Saturdays."

"I swapped with Vernon, you weren't going to be around and Vernon had been begging for a Saturday off for ages but I'm glad I did now." He turned back to admire Nikki who chuckled and smiled. Harry wasn't sure that those kind of looks were appropriate coming from his friend, especially his friend who was in a stable relationship with another man.

"Come on we'll miss our boat," Harry chided.

Jorge walked over to Harry and whispered in his ear.

"You didn't tell me she was so beautiful!"

"Didn't I?" he replied nonchalantly.

"We're supposed to be friends Harry, friends don't keep secrets!"

"My mum's ill, she sent Nikki as a replacement."

"Replacement? Are you sure? I don't think you need to worry. I don't think your mother is that sick. I think your mother is very smart!" Jorge moved away from Harry and spoke to Nikki again.

"Have a lovely day Nikki. Will I see you later?"

Harry bundled Nikki out of the door and in the direction of the subway.

"What did Jorge mean? See you later? Is he in a show tonight? Are you supposed to be singing? Can I go?"

"Just keep walking!" Harry commanded, tucking his arm in hers and tugging her along.

* * *

**One night with you: Antonio Reid, Kenneth Edmonds (Elvis)**

**Thank you for your suggestions of things to do in New York, keep them coming, I've squeezed in most of the ideas so far but may not have uploaded that bit yet. Thanks for reading.**


	42. Chapter 42 Lived a Very Quiet Life

**Chapter Forty-Two**

**Saturday 16****th**** March**

_**Always lived, very quiet life, I ain't never did no wrong**_

The boat trip was perfect, Nikki had been glad of the overcoat despite Jorge's jibes about its ugliness. It was too big of course, but just perfectly sized too big; enough to feel lavish without feeling like an idiot in giant's clothes. Harry had walked ahead as they arrived and handed the tickets over and introduced themselves as 'Mr and Mrs Cunningham.' She knew he hoped she hadn't heard what he'd said but even without hearing she'd seen him say it. Seen the way his jaw clenched as he held out the tickets. She also saw it relax again and break into a smile as she had joined him and had taken his hand.

The sun was still blazing down, despite the cold wind. The water was an uninviting brown but the sunshine created silvery highlights on the light waves. They had sailed around Liberty Island, passed Ellis Island and around the Southside of Manhattan where the Holocaust memorial was and the gaping gap that once was the World Trade Center. Going up the East River took them under Brooklyn Bridge and all the way up to the UN, with views of the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings. Try as they might they couldn't spot Harry's apartment building, but they weren't far away. Vertically New York was enormous, but the area of the island itself was tiny in comparison with London's sprawl.

"What shall we do now?" asked Harry as they sailed back around the southern tip of Manhattan and back into the Hudson River. "You could go to the driving range." Harry pointed at the cages jutting out from the piers, with golfers stood in little boxes on three levels whacking golf balls into the river.

"Do you think they get the balls back?" Nikki asked.

"They must do, there are nets all around."

"Oh yes, they're hard to see in the sun," Nikki agreed.

"We could head north and take in some of the parade? We could go to the art museum? We could go to the shops?" Harry pulled an ugly face at this one. Had he been in England he would probably have mimed shooting himself in the head, but guns were another subject he discovered that the Americans got really touchy about and there were other tourists on the boat trip.

"We could walk up Broadway and see if we can get tickets for a show tonight. I'd thought of doing that with Mum, if she was up for it."

"Why did Jorge say he'd see me later?"

"Because he's my doorman and it's his job?"

Nikki narrowed her eyes and looked at him closely.

"What?" Harry puffed. "I go out with Jorge most Saturdays, maybe he thought you'd come?"

"Can we?"

"Go out with Jorge?"

"You'll not be likely to pull you know." Harry said seriously.

Nikki pulled another face. "Won't I be coming home and sleeping with you?" she asked.

It was Harry's turn to blush then. Neither of them had mentioned the previous night's sleeping arrangements.

"Sorry, that didn't sound quite right."

"Nikki!" he scrubbed his hand through his hair. They had been doing so well, getting on brilliantly as friends and he didn't want it to go wrong, but as the hours went by he was becoming less and less sure what constituted wrong.

"Anyway, I haven't brought any clothes suitable for going out with Jorge and from his remarks this morning he's not going to let me come out with him wearing any of yours. And I don't have any dollars."

"How about this then? We walk back up to Times Square and get some lunch at a deli, we go across to 5th Avenue and see if we can see some of the St Patrick's day parade. While we're there I'll take you to Sak's and you can see how barmy it is and then I'll take you to another equally famous department store slightly further south and buy you something to wear that Jorge would approve of."

"This other store; am I likely to have heard of it?"

"Probably not; but as you pointed out you don't have any dollars and I do."

"I bet they'd take my credit card."

"I'll text Jorge and ask where he's planning on going."

Nikki turned her face up towards the sun and closed her eyes. She'd tied her hair back but the wind was still whipping wisps of it across her face. She tried to decide what exactly the river smelt of. It was nothing like the Thames, the Thames had a heavy, dense, slightly sweet smell, this was lighter but with hints of diesel. She dropped her head down to her chest, shielding her face from the wind in Harry's upturned coat collar and inhaled again. All she got this time was the smell of Harry's aftershave enveloping her. She closed her eyes again and just breathed.

* * *

**One night with you: Antonio Reid, Kenneth Edmonds (Elvis)**


	43. Chapter 43 Too Lonely Too Long

**Chapter 43**

**Saturday 16****th**** March**

**Now I know that life without you, has been too lonely too long.**

"Jorge says they're going out dancing somewhere in Greenwich Village." Harry said as he opened his fortune cookie.

"Is that far?"

"Not from here"

"What have you got?" Nikki asked nodding at the strip of paper in his hand.

"Well it seems that today my lucky number is two and 'He who laughs at himself will never run out of things to laugh at.' Oh that's just rude. What's yours?"

"A friend is a present you give yourself." I don't know why you always make us read these, when have we ever had one that actually makes any sense?"

"That one's ok."

"Did I tell you Mr Li still misses you?" Nikki said.

Harry chuckled. "This blackbean sauce is far better than Mr Li's"

"I agree Harry, but it doesn't change the fact that Mr Li misses you."

"I'll send him a … postcard," laughed Harry throwing his hands up in the air. Unless this lot want to impart the secret of their blackbean sauce and then I'll send that instead."

"He'd be terribly insulted."

"Are you really up for going out dancing?" Harry asked as she rubbed at her eyes for the second time since opening her fortune cookie. The food was fantastic but the service had been uncharacteristically slow and it was close to 9:30, passed midnight on Nikki's body clock.

"I really wanted to go out with Jorge, see how your life here actually is. Not just the touristy bits."

"Really?" Harry asked as Nikki broke into her second fortune cookie and stifled another yawn.

"Wouldn't you like to go somewhere classy… What about a jazz club?"

Nikki screwed up her nose and shook her head.

"You just don't want to go dancing," she said jabbing her fortune towards him. Harry stole the piece of paper and read seriously.

'_You must find stillness and then you will find happiness'_

"It does not say that!" she laughed, snatching the paper back again.

It says:

'_When in New York go to gay bars and dance and drink yourself stupid.'_

"I don't remember ever reading that one before," Harry chuckled with his eyebrow raised. He had felt relaxed tonight, enjoyed himself, he didn't have to pretend to be anyone he wasn't. He didn't really know what he wanted from the weekend any more but he suspected staying out late drinking and dancing would not be a prudent move. He got out his phone and began texting again.

Nikki looked out the window at the plethora of yellow cabs going past the window. The sky had clouded over and through the street lights she could just make out the lightest first few flakes of snow.

"I think it's snowing Harry."

"Oh please no, enough with the snow already, has nobody informed this country that by the 16th of March spring really should have started!"

"Maybe not," she said staring back up into the light and tracing the falling flakes with her finger. We had snow last weekend, not so much in town but further south, the M23 was shut, people were sleeping in their cars." She looked at him staring suspiciously out of the window. That was the one thing he regularly complained about, finding it cold in New York. Maybe she thought he wasn't always talking about the weather. She yawned. "I am pretty tired, Harry."

"Hmm?" he said distractedly as his phone rang. "Sorry," he jumped out of his chair and walked out of the restaurant to take the call on the pavement outside, making sure he was far enough away from the obligatory group of smokers that hovered around the front of any public building's front door.

Nikki could see him through the window pacing up and down, and waving his arms as he spoke. There was something so different about having him physically there in front of her. Every week they had talked, caught up on their week's news but it had all been very cerebral; now watching him outside she realised how much of Harry she missed. How much she didn't have. She had told him before he left that by going away and leaving her with the responsibility for his stuff and his mother that she would become even more involved in his life than ever before and in a way that was true.

But life with Harry was not only knowing stuff about him, it was also about knowing him and she had forgotten what a huge part his physicality played to his being, it was as intoxicating as the smell of his aftershave had been earlier when she had buried her nose in his coat. He was so different to Jack, Jack was big and imposing physically but he spoke only from his mouth the rest of his body held tightly in check but when Harry spoke his whole body came alive and watching him talk and move now reminded her of just how much of him she had lost. It seemed the only time he was ever still was on the few occasions that he hugged her, and then it seemed as if the whole world stood still.

"Call me back!" she saw him say into the phone and then swing his arms to keep warm out on the street. She saw him look up towards the light and curse. The snow wouldn't settle but it was definitely falling.

The phone had obviously rung again and she could see the broad smile on his face when he turned to face her and made his way back to the door.

He sat back down at the table and took her hands in his.

"Blimey Harry, you're freezing!"

"So…."

"Yes!" She leant forward.

"The schedules are all up the spout because of St Patty's day, but I've just managed to do a deal and found Jorge a spot at The Cock tomorrow night, so we can still go out with Jorge, just not tonight."

"You organised a gig for Jorge tomorrow, just for me?"

"Yes, no, well maybe. They were clammering for him to sing after our success in that competition, but I wasn't available this weekend so he pulled out. Luckily for you a slot has opened up tomorrow and the owner is happy for Jorge to do his act then."

"Just Jorge doing the act?"

"Just Jorge." It's only a short slot.

"So you won't sing?"

"I don't really sing that much anyway, Beto and I just do a few ooh and ah harmonies every now and then. Occasionally we join in on a chorus. Now did you want to go on a night out with Jorge or not?"

"Yes please," she giggled instantly making Harry's cross face break into a smile.

"Fabulous! Can we go home now then please? I'm exhausted!"

"It must be the sea air," Nikki said knowledgeably as they walked home arm in arm.

"I like your new dress," Harry said. "It suits you."

"I do too," she admitted. "I was sceptical at first, but there were treasures to be found."

"Not everyone that comes to New York gets a personal tour of Target you know." Harry said.

"I'll remember that. Thanks for a wonderful day. Are you sure I can't get some money out and pay for it."

"No, not a cent. You saw the price tag, it won't break the bank will it? It's not like I let you buy anything at Sak's or Macys. I wouldn't have let my mum pay for anything now would I?"

"But I'm not your mum," Nikki insisted.

"No, you're not." Harry agreed.

* * *

**One night with you: Antonio Reid, Kenneth Edmonds (Elvis)**

**Target is a fabulous store, slightly more upmarket than WalMart but not much, it would be like buying clothes in a supermarket in the UK. Sorry die hard romantics I just couldn't see Harry splashing out at Macy's/Saks/Bloomingdales etc. But I'm happy to be told I'm wrong...**


	44. Chapter 44 My Loves Too Strong To Hide

**Chapter Forty-Four**

**Saturday 16****th**** March**

_**I want your sweet helping hand, my loves too strong to hide.**_

"Evening Miguel," Harry said as they burst into the lobby from the cold sidewalk.

"Hi how'redoin'" Miguel replied.

Nikki looked at Harry when no more was said.

"It's fine, they don't expect an answer. It took me ages to get used to it. I still don't think I've got it quite right. It would probably have been easier to change languages entirely and have to learn it properly rather than muddle through."

Nikki pressed the button on the lift. "So it'll still be the same?" She gestured with her head towards the lift doors.

"Undoubtedly," Harry replied. The lift doors opened and Elvis could already be heard crooning softly. They shared a smile, as they leant against the back of the elevator.

_Just call my name, and I'll be right by your side._

_I want your sweet helping hand, my loves too strong to hide._

"Maybe you would have been better with the apartment without the kitchen; you wouldn't have had to suffer Elvis every day." Nikki laughed.

"Oh, I don't know, he grows on you I think. And I would never have met Jorge or Beto or…"

It was true she thought; she could see how his eyes lit up when he talked about the gigs and his excitement after winning the competition. It had made every penny she had spent on his birthday worthwhile.

"Wine?" Harry asked, as he opened the door to his apartment and expertly lit one of the side lights to avoid a repetition of the entrance of the previous night.

"Hmm thanks," Nikki replied, reluctantly removing Harry's overcoat and hanging it up. She'd had a great day and it had been effortless. She had enjoyed herself without constantly questioning her motives, his intentions, it had just been the two of them. Harry and Nikki, Nikki and Harry; just not quite as they were before but it was good; maybe it was better. She smiled up at him as he handed her a glass.

They sat together on the sofa, legs brushing against each other, retelling the stories from times past, the stories from the day but there was no talk of the future and no talk of the part of their lives that no longer included each other. There could be no talk of the future for the day after tomorrow she would be gone. She spoke about James, the passage of time giving her a better perspective on the whirlwind of their brief romance.

"Do you know what was the most attractive thing about him?" Nikki asked.

"His money, his looks, his title, his estate…" Harry wise cracked.

"He was interested in me and he told me so. There was no need to second guess all the time. He was quite simple in that respect."

"I'm sorry Nikki." Harry repeated.

"Don't be," she replied. She stared at the wall where in any other apartment there might be a flat screen TV. "So you've not missed the TV?"

"No, Most of it is drivel over here. I use the computer. I read. I go out, I rehearse with Jorge.

"I'm sorry your Mum wasn't able to come. Did you call her?"

"Yes, she sounded fine. She said she was fine. She asked if you were having a good time?" Harry turned to look at her then; her hair had fallen back against the sofa, framing her face where she had relaxed back into the leather. "You are enjoying yourself aren't you?"

"Yes I am," she said. She sat up then, and leaned towards him. She looked into his eyes and reached up with her hand to stroke his cheek.

"Nikki," he breathed, closing his eyes and leaning his face into her caress. He stayed there momentarily and then opened his eyes and sadly but definitively shook his head. "It's late," he added as if that were an explanation.

"Why?" she whispered. She'd never seen Harry this relaxed, this happy but still he wouldn't respond to her.

"What's to stop us Harry?"

He closed his eyes again as if summoning some inner strength.

"Nikki!" he pleaded.

"Look on it as a holiday fling."

Harry shook his head again. Nikki took her hand from his face and gently stroked the back of his hand.

"Please, Harry. What's so wrong with me?

"There's nothing wrong with you," he replied.

"But any other girl you'd have picked up today and brought home would have lost her knickers before making it to the sofa... Don't look at me like that Harry, I'm not stupid. Why couldn't it be us?"

"Because," she could hear the tension in his voice. "Because I'm not on holiday and you're not a fling!"

"Then what am I?" she demanded. "No don't answer that," she added afraid of a slur he'd thrown at her once before. She settled for a wobbly smile.

"I can't." Harry mumbled. "Well I can," he asserted, shifting in his seat to relieve some of the accumulating pressure.

"But you won't," she finished for him. She couldn't get angry with him; he looked so lost; they had had such a wonderful day. She shouldn't ruin it.

"Why?" she repeated wishing it was something to do with the timing and not to do with the number of previous men in her life.

"You know why." He answered and pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. "You're my friend Nikki, and I'm going to miss you when you go. I… I…" He stuttered to a stop.

"No, why did you leave?" she asked switching the focus back to him.

Harry sighed. "Because I was finished there, I'd done all I needed to do, I wasn't going to get promoted, I knew there wasn't really the money or work to support the three of us and Leo was going off the rails…"

"Were we finished?" she asked in a hesitant voice.

"Us? We never even started!"

"Why?" she asked for the third time.

"Because you were never in love with me…" Nikki raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't start Nikki, I know we were close, I know we loved each other in our own way but you were never IN love with me."

"And how would you know that?" she asked and then added quietly. "I didn't know I could be."

"Come on, Nikki. We have such a short time together." He grabbed both her hands. "I never expected to have you come visit, and now you're here I'm having the most amazing time. I don't want to ruin it. I want to enjoy every second. Please don't let us make this something it's not or start something we can't end, or end something we haven't started."

"How can we end something we haven't started?" She laughed. "It's ok Harry, you're right." She continued and leant forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek. She knew he was right, he knew he was right. But he wished he wasn't. She wished he wasn't. She smiled. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest. They sat in companionable silence for a while, as the boiling pot of their emotions cooled to a steady simmer again. There wasn't much left to be said.

"Race you to the bathroom?" Harry challenged in response to a yawn from Nikki.

"You are such a child!" she laughed.

"That from the woman who hogged all my duvet last night, although why I didn't realise that would happen from the start still puzzles me, like you say that desk job is definitely making me slow."

Nikki had taken full use of Harry's speech and slipped out from under his arm and run to the bathroom first.

"Nikki!"

* * *

**One night with you: Antonio Reid, Kenneth Edmonds (Elvis)**


	45. Chapter 45 Sh'ma Yisrael

**Chapter Forty-Five**

**Sunday 17****th**** March **

_**Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad **_ישראל שמע

It was 3am and Nikki was wide awake, it would be 7am in England and the time she usually rose on a Sunday with or without work. She was grateful that the change to daylight savings time had happened on different weeks; it meant there wasn't five hours difference like there usually was, only four. She tried to lay still so as not to disturb Harry but she knew she wouldn't get back to sleep quickly.

What was she doing? She asked herself. Friday had been such a whirlwind she hadn't actually considered the implications of coming to New York. Anne wasn't well enough to fly or so she claimed and sending Nikki was the simplest solution to the problem but whether Anne had considered the emotional consequences of Nikki taking her place when she suggested it; Nikki wasn't sure. She still had strong suspicions that Anne had planned it all from the start.

She rolled onto her back to face the ceiling; and Harry rolled over too. She half expected him to moan at her for waking him up but instead he just took hold of her hand in his sleep. She had spent hours in the past six months rationalising his decision to leave, it had whirled around and around in her brain until she was too exhausted to think about it anymore. But lying there in the dark next to him it all came back. His answer tonight still hadn't really given her a satisfactory answer as to why he had chosen to go. There was some mixed up notion that she wasn't in love with him or that he wasn't good enough for her and by leaving she would find someone better to settle down with. He might well think that was true, but the reality was that anyone she had met hadn't come close. She had chided Leo for not moving on, but she hadn't either, spending time with Harry this weekend had just reopened all those feelings she had tried to hide and now she had to face the question of what she wanted from him.

Why had he not made a move this evening? Because he would miss her when she went? What was his problem? It was not as if he was precious about sex, he wasn't known to wait for at least three (was that the number now she wondered?) dates before bedding the girl. So what had stopped him tonight?

She suspected that Harry just wasn't ready to settle down; that his fear of having the wife and the family and the job he wanted but still not knowing how to be happy like his father had crippled him from moving their or any other relationship forward and that is why he had made the decision to leave. She had given him opportunity to make a move this evening, she'd practically begged him but ever the gentleman he had backed off, just as he always had in the past. He'd passed the two big mile stones his mother had mentioned, the anniversary of his father's death and his 40th birthday, but somehow despite the freedom his new start had given him much of what he enjoyed doing seemed to be the same as it had always been. All except his nights out with Jorge.

Rather than let her thoughts stray further down the path of what she or Harry wanted from this weekend, or their relationship she grabbed a book from the nightstand and one of his tablets and tiptoed out of his bedroom. The open plan nature of the apartment meant that wherever she put a light on, it was bound to disturb him and she really didn't want to sit in the bathroom for an hour reading a book, so remembering the seats in the lobby area by the lift she wrapped herself up in Harry's overcoat and crept out into the hallway, leaving one of Harry's shoes in the door to stop it from shutting and locking her out.

Usually Harry read thrillers they had often shared books back when they were working together, but this one was a gritty and gory tale set during the time of Saddam Hussein's overthrow and written by a soldier. It was not dissimilar to reading a case report; it might have the effect of sending her to sleep, but not really the light reading she was intending. She was vaguely aware of movement and looked up to see if Harry had followed her out into the hallway.

"Oy vey!" the old woman staring at her shouted and raised her hands to her head in surprise. Her dressing gown sleeves slipping revealing the lady's leathery, mottled old skin.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Nikki said. Sitting up straighter and tortoise like her limbs emerged from Harry's large coat.

"I'm sorry. You just gave me a fright. I thought Harry had left his coat on the chair, I came down to pick it up for him and then I saw it move!"

"I am sorry," Nikki repeated. "You must be Mrs Finkelstein."

"Yes, how did you know? You're English, are you staying with Harry? I thought Harry's mother was coming to stay. I lent him my Z-bed."

"Yes, thank you. He was so pleased you had." Nikki paused and stretched her right hand out of the oversized sleeve. "Nikki Alexander."

Mrs Finkelstein shook her hand, "nice to meet you." The hand felt cold and soft under Nikki's firm handshake. "It can't be very comfortable."

"Pardon?"

"The Z-bed. You're out here in the hall, not fast asleep like everyone else at three in the morning."

"Jet lag, I couldn't sleep. It's got nothing to do with the bed." Nikki said kindly. "You're not asleep either," she added.

"Nightmares," said Mrs Finkelstein, taking the chair next to Nikki's. "Now you are obviously not Harry's mother so who are you?"

Nikki looked across at the old lady, since arriving in New York she had been his sister, his wife, his friend. What exactly was she?

"I'm an old friend of Harry's we used to work together," she said. "Harry's mother became ill, so she sent me as a replacement."

Mrs Finkelstein leant forward and regarded Nikki through narrowed eyes. "What kind of woman does a mother send to her son when she is unable to visit?"

Nikki didn't answer. She had her suspicions about the answer when she had seen Anne's smiling face waving her off in the taxi two days ago. Mrs Finkelstein put her hands up to her hair, her sleeves drooping once more.

"I must look a state dear, and you look fresh as a daisy. I usually have these seats to myself." It was then that Nikki realised that her skin wasn't mottled by age; the dark patch was a small tattoo, a letter and five numbers.

"You know what that is?" Mrs Finkelstein asked realising from Nikki's shocked face that she had noticed.

Nikki nodded.

"I'm pleased, the young these days; many don't know what that is."

"Why didn't you have it removed?"

"Because some things should never be forgotten; even terrible terrible things. They are all part of our lives and we can't just remove the hurt and pretend it never happened. That's not how life works. You have to walk the path before you. I don't usually talk about it, I'm usually covered up. I don't often receive visitors when I'm in my nightwear."

"The nightmares?"

"Still the nightmares. I was a young woman then, hardly more than a girl and now I am an old woman but still they are the same."

They sat in silence for a while and despite not talking about the nightmares that often plagued them both just being together brokered a firm solidarity between the two strangers.

"Would you like some tea?" Mrs Finkelstein asked eventually.

"No, I think I'll try and go back to bed." They walked back along the corridor, Mrs Finkelstein stopping as she reached her doorway to kiss her fingers and touch the mezuzah on her doorframe before entering.

"You still believe?" Nikki asked. "Even after all you went through?" She stepped back and towards Nikki.

"If there is one thing that terrible place taught me," she said raising her pointer finger and prodding it towards Nikki, "it is not to give up on faith and not to give up on love, without those you really will be left with nothing. "

"Nikki?" Harry called opening the door. "Mrs Finkelstein?"

Nikki saw the old lady pull at her sleeves, it was clear she did not want Harry to know.

"We were just saying goodnight," Mrs Finkelstein answered in way of explanation. "Good night dear. Enjoy your trip."

"Good night, it's been good talking to you."

She watched Mrs Finkelstein reach out to the mezuzah again and go inside then she turned to look at Harry.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Better now?"

Nikki nodded.

"Good, come back to bed." Harry said and reached for her hand and pulled her back into his apartment.

"What are we doing Harry?" Nikki asked as she felt him climb into the bed next to her.

"Honestly?" he whispered in the darkness.

"Honestly," she replied reaching out and holding his hand.

"I really don't know. Get some sleep."

* * *

The words of the Sh'ma:

"_**Listen Israel, G-d is our G-d, G-d is one. And you shall love your G-d, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your possessions. And it will be that these words which I command you today shall be upon your hearts, and you shall teach them to your sons, and you shall speak them when you sit in your house, and when you go on your way, when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your arm, and they shall be Tefillin between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and your gates." (Deut. 6:4-9)**_

**These are the words of the Torah that are inside every Mezuzah, placed on the door frame of a Jewish home. If you don't know what Nikki and Mrs Finkelstein are talking about, it's time you found out; ask me or do some research. (Sorry once a teacher always a teacher) Based on Prisoner Henia Bryer A26188.**


	46. Chapter 46 Stay

**Chapter Forty-Six**

**Sunday 17****th**** March**

_**I want you to stay**_

When Nikki woke again the sunlight was streaming between the cracks in the blinds and the space in the bed next to her was empty. The clock next to Harry's side of the bed said 9:30am. Just then Harry walked in carrying a plastic sack of laundry.

"Morning sleepy head, I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, I think I was already awake." She gestured to the plastic sack.

There are machines in the basement, it's great they're massive and the driers don't take long either. You just have to collect quarters to operate them. He tipped out the bag on the bed and started folding and putting the clean clothes away.

"Are you planning on getting out of that bed?" he asked.

"Probably, why?"

Harry looked at her, the real answer he wanted to give her was something along the lines of how fabulous she looked, hair all mussed up and spread across his pillow and how instead of it being a chore sitting in the basement whilst his laundry finished; sitting there today so she could sleep on in peace had been one of the best starts to a Sunday of his for a long time.

"It's a good job you didn't move here."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, you would have slept right through your 8am Skype appointment!"

"Sundays at one!" she chuckled.

"Only for you, it's Sundays at 8am for me!"

Nikki sat up then and rubbed her eyes. "You've not missed one have you?"

"I think I might have missed a couple," Harry admitted.

"Thanks." There was a short pause. "We're friends right?" Nikki asked, suddenly remembering the thoughts that had occupied her mind in the night.

"The best of friends," Harry agreed. "But only if you get out of that bed soon. There's a great diner by the park that does a fantastic Sunday brunch, but if we don't get there soon, we'll never get a table."

"I'm up, I'm up!" Nikki laughed and grabbed the few remaining clean clothes she had and carried them to the bathroom.

The day had flown by, brunch at the diner near Central Park, a walk through the park but it was too cold to be outside for long. It didn't stop the street vendors though; there were hot dog stands, pretzel stands, ice cream stands, doughnut stands and crepe stands they seemed never ending.

"What's a funnel cake?" asked Nikki as they passed yet another food stall.

"I have no idea," laughed Harry, but by the look of the picture it's a doughnut with an even greater surface area to get fried."

"Why isn't everyone the size of buses?" Nikki asked. "I thought Britain was supposed to be the one with the obesity problem."

"I think everyone in New York is too stressed to get fat, and they still possess the ability to walk, but elsewhere I'm not sure. There were some tragic sights to behold in Niagara. I saw this little girl couldn't have been more than three so fat she hardly fitted into her stroller chugging a 750ml bottle of sports Powerade. She'll probably go from pram to mobility scooter in one move!" Harry explained.

"But why are there so many?"

"Eating is hobby here; you don't do it because you're hungry."

Nikki just stared at him. There were so many things that were the same between the two countries and then some things that were completely foreign.

"You still running?"

"Yep, this is one of my regular routes."

"What about the art museum?" Nikki suggested.

Harry made a face, "I've not been there since that singles afternoon."

"Well lucky for you it's only the second Sunday today and you'd be going with me."

"I would," he agreed.

"Come on, I'm going back to London tomorrow, when will I get another chance to taste the best culture that New York has to offer?"

"I don't know," said Harry slowly, pulling his coat tighter around him as the wind suddenly felt chillier. "There's a Shakespeare Garden, somewhere in here," Harry suggested.

"Why would I come all the way to New York to see a garden for Shakespeare? I'm sure it's beautiful but it's not really America."

"That's true, and it's too early for the blossom to be out," Harry said surveying the bare trees as they walked along.

"What about the American Museum of Natural History? Where's that?" Nikki asked.

"The other side of the park," Harry answered.

"Have you been?"

"I read the review in the guide book you gave me."

"Harry!" They retraced their steps and headed west on the first path they came to. "So what did the book say?" She gasped suddenly. "I could go and see Lucy!"

"I didn't know you had a friend in New York," he retorted; suddenly stung by the idea that he wouldn't have her all to himself this weekend.

"No, only you," she answered. "Lucy, you must know who Lucy is! What exactly do you teach those students at NYU?"

"Oh Lucy! The three million year old hominid skeleton! The one that's on all the posters."

"It's perfect Harry! You, me, a Sunday afternoon and a pile of bones!"

"You are unlike anyone else I have ever met!" Harry chuckled.

"Oh Harry, it's going to be brilliant!" she ran on ahead a few steps and turned around to jog backwards, flapping her arms in her own personal happy dance.

"I vaguely remember something about a world famous butterfly conservatory too." Harry mentioned casually. Nikki bounced higher.

"I love New York," she shouted and jogged backwards along the path, beckoning him to hurry up.

Harry smiled until his cheeks hurt and followed along behind; the word 'stay' forming in his consciousness and becoming difficult to ignore.

* * *

**Stay: Rihanna**


	47. Chapter 47 I Can't Help Falling In Love

**Chapter Forty-Seven**

**Sunday 17****th**** March**

_**For I can't help falling in love with you.**_

"So Jorge and Beto will already be there?" Nikki asked as they made their way up the stairs from the 2nd street subway.

"I told you already! There'll be there. Jorge always gets there early when he's singing."

"These boots don't match this new dress."

"Rubbish, Nikki you look fantastic. Here we are." Nikki looked up to see the neon cockerel over the door.

"Are you sure we'll be ok?" Nikki asked losing her nerve all of a sudden. The street was the seediest she'd been on all weekend and the bar wasn't looking like one she'd voluntarily go into. She'd done prison interviews, she'd been to crime scenes on the dodgiest London estates, she'd even walked up a sewage pipe but there was something about this place that made her nervous.

"You said you wanted to see the real deal, not just the touristy bits. Come on you'll be fine."

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"It wasn't far, why did we take the subway?"

"I wasn't going to let you walk far in this neighbourhood."

Nikki looked around, it was a world away from the area around the American Museum of Natural History and Central Park and yet they were still only a couple of subway stops away. "I don't think I love all of New York quite so much," she said.

"You'll be fine," Harry reassured her.

At that moment a car thumped its way down the street the base line from its stereo so loud it was making the tyres vibrate.

"Harry? Whatever you do, don't let go of me for an instant. Do you understand?"

"I've got you," he said reassuringly and took her arm and pulled her through the door. He didn't let go of her as he pushed his way through the throng to grab a couple of beers from the barman and then pushed through a curtain on the right hand side to another room where there were tables and a small stage.

"Quick, there's Beto; he's saved us some seats." Harry made his way over to a table near the front. The man sat there jumped to his feet.

"NIKKI!" the man shouted, enveloping her in a hug and kissing both her cheeks.

"Beto?" Nikki asked.

"At your service," he said kissing her hand; he had a similar colouring to Jorge, more milky coffee than deep tan but his eyes were darker and his hair was longer. "He'll be on in about ten minutes, you made it just in time, the place is filling up!"

She looked back and in the minutes since they'd walked into the room it was suddenly standing room only. "They're all here to see Jorge?" She noticed with some relief that she wasn't the only woman in the room and for the first time since emerging from the subway began to relax.

"He's become a legend thanks to you," Beto insisted. "Harry and I would like to think it was our doing, but it's not, it's all Jorge."

"So he is good then?"

"He's the best," said Beto with a smile.

"Where did you two meet?"

"A dingy bar just outside the village, this place is way more upmarket!" Nikki swallowed. There was a lot of New York she didn't feel the need to explore.

Nikki took the seat next to Harry and took a sip of her beer. "They don't believe in glasses here then?"

"You'll find there's a lot of stuff they don't believe in here." Harry replied. She looked at him then, leaning back in his chair and sipping his beer he looked totally at home despite the surroundings. She knew in some way his reason for moving to New York was to give himself a new start at life, but was he really thinking about changing his whole life and sexuality? She looked at the other men around the room; she just didn't think it was him. He had always been so…so… so… Was that why he hadn't returned her advances? She was aware that someone was staring at her and on looking back was relieved to find it was Harry.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"I was just wondering if this really was your scene?" she replied trying to keep the actual question she was asking under the surface.

"The gay bar?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded.

"It's just a means to an end, it's the place that will give Jorge space to sing."

"So you're not even curious?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Nope," he said decidedly and giving her a big smile.

She leant towards him, "I'd love to hear you sing," she whispered into his ear.

"Dream on!" he replied and took another pull on his beer.

The room erupted as Jorge walked onto the stage. She couldn't believe the transformation, he looked nothing like a Colombian doorman and everything like a young Elvis.

"Let's welcome on stage tonight, Jorge Fuentes the recent winner of the North Eastern State best Newcomer award, but known to us all here as ELVIS!"

Jorge launched straight into 'Jailhouse Rock,' and the room started buzzing. Nikki couldn't help but grin, it was infectious the room was singing and dancing along to the music and whenever it stopped the crowd cheered and clapped and called out suggestions of what they wanted Jorge to sing next; most of which he complied with and still without losing his Elvis persona. The atmosphere was fantastic.

Harry and Beto were tapping their feet and occasionally trading words but mostly they were enjoying the show from front of house for once. Nikki couldn't understand how one man could be so mesmerising but when he sang through 'Surrender' he looked straight at her and she had the uncomfortable feeling he was singing just to her.

_So, my darling, please surrender_

_All your love so warm and tender_

_Let me hold you in my arms, dear_

_While the moon shines bright above._

But that was ridiculous, he wasn't actually interested in her! Jorge had been together with Beto for as long as she could remember, whenever Harry had mentioned Jorge, Beto had always been there in the background. Jorge was just a showman; he was just doing exactly what Elvis did; he made everyone believe he was singing just for them and he did it well, really well. She could see how he had won his category in the competition.

"I can't help falling in love!" screamed someone from the back as Jorge had finished his crescendo 'Be mine tonight!'

"Well I know honey, I can't either," Jorge answered without trace of his Colombian accent. "But I'm afraid I need my backing singers for that one, and generous man that I am; I've given them the night off!"

There were shouts of disappointment from further back.

"They're here ain't they, on that table at the front!" someone shouted back. Harry slunk down lower in his seat. Jorge looked down at them pleadingly. Nikki saw Harry studiously avoiding eye contact and looked at her instead.

'Please,' she mouthed to him.

'You won't laugh? You won't crow about this forever, you won't make me wish I'd never been born?'

She shook her head vigorously.

"Never!" she called loudly above the music. "Not if you get me out of this place alive!"

"Come on up," Jorge urged them. "We'll sing this one just for Nikki."

The crowd started chanting for them to sing and Jorge kept on talking. "It's because of this woman here tonight that I stand before you as the Best Newcomer 2013!" The crowd cheered and before Harry had time to object, Beto had grabbed his arm; growled 'vamos' at him, given him a microphone and pushed him towards the stage.

Instead of being back stage, they stood either side of Jorge who put his arms around them both.

"This if for you, our darling Nikki," Jorge said and began to sing.

'_Wise men say only fools rush in'_

For the first moment, Nikki couldn't see or hear what Harry and Beto had to do but as soon as the second line began and the harmonies started up, she found herself gawping in astonishment. They weren't just good, they were all brilliant.

_'But I can't help falling in love with you  
Shall I stay  
Would it be a sin  
If I can't help falling in love with you.'_

It was only when she got over the initial shock of how good the three of them sounded that she actually focused on the words the three men on the stage were singing to her. Jorge she had got used to, Beto was just having a good time but Harry, Harry looked as serious as ever and he was looking straight at her._  
_

_'Like a river flows surely to the sea  
Darling so it goes  
Some things are meant to be  
Take my hand, take my whole life too  
For I can't help falling in love with you.'_

Nikki picked up her beer bottle and tried to control her shaking hands, was he acting too? She had always been able to tell when Harry was lying or keeping something from her in the past but they hadn't been together for six months now. All her senses were telling her that he was being utterly serious. But if he was serious now, why hadn't he done anything the previous night when she had unashamedly propositioned him. He'd said that she wasn't IN love with him, but had Harry fallen in love with her?

'_For I can't help falling in love with you.'_

The song and set over the crowd went wild, the chanting continued and Jorge signalled to someone near the back and the music changed; the tempo picked up again and Jorge grinned at Harry and Beto. They both smiled at him and prepared for one final song.

'_Lord almighty,  
I feel my temperature rising  
Higher higher  
Its burning through to my soul'_

Everyone in the bar was singing now; it must be Jorge's theme song; Nikki surmised, the three of them were certainly enjoying themselves. They even had practised moves, maybe it was one of the songs they had done for the competition.

'_I'm just a hunk, a hunk of burning love'_

It repeated so many times even Nikki joined in. The cheer the three of them got when they finished was tremendous. Jorge's friends and fans swarmed on the stage and Nikki retreated into her seat. She was just beginning to get nervous when she felt Harry lean over her and whisper in her ear.

"Let's get out of here."

* * *

**Surrender: Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman (Elvis)**

**I can't help falling in love with you: ****George Weiss - Hugo Peretti - Luigi Creatore (Elvis)**

**Burning Love: Dennis Linde & Arthur Alexander (Elvis)**


	48. Chapter 48 It's Now

**Extra bonus bank holiday chapter for you…but only one I'm afraid. Thanks especially to Freya82, KiwiSWfan and GreyLostWho for their faithful reviews. So if you've not said anything for a while, you might have something to say at the end of this one… Please?**

* * *

**Chapter Forty- Eight**

**Sunday 17****th**** March**

_**It's now or never, come hold me tight.**_

The feel of Harry's face over her shoulder and pressed up against her hair lasted long after his words had died away. She'd spent a lot of time over the last ten years with Harry in her personal space but something tonight had changed. Something was different.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked pulling her hastily to her feet and then dropping her hand as he pushed a path through the throng of people and out onto the street. He knew she was following him, but for once this weekend he didn't take her hand again, or her arm he just walked on and hurried down to the subway. It wasn't until they were on the platform waiting for the metro that Nikki finally found her voice.

"Harry, that was incredible."

He ran his hand through his hair. He hadn't worked out yet how he felt about singing this evening. It had been the one part of his life that up until now that had been his. No one he knew had ever heard him sing, well not since he had been at school. His work colleagues at NYU had no idea what he did in his spare time. But now he had sung with Nikki there, sung the words to her, with his arms wrapped around his friends; all three of them had sung that song and they had all meant it in their own various ways. Despite all his best intentions Harry realised it was true. The weekend with Nikki had been unlike any other, he didn't want it to end. He didn't want her to go.

Had he fallen in love with her? Or had he always been in love with her? He'd left because he was sure she didn't return his feelings but this weekend had shaken that conviction to the core. Had it just been work and circumstances getting in the way? Had he imagined it when she had shrugged his hand off her shoulder?

"Thanks," he said shyly. He wasn't embarrassed about the singing, he knew the quality was good but this did seem like some other kind of milestone. Some final breaking of the protective shell he had cocooned himself in over the years. It was exhilarating and liberating and scary as hell. It was like one of those dreams when you're in a business meeting or walk into school and suddenly realise you are naked. That's what it felt like he decided. He was still half waiting for her to laugh at him, ridicule him as she had once before, tell him his life was hysterical. He unconsciously chewed on the inside of his cheek.

"You were all amazing. YOU were amazing, I would never have believed it if I hadn't actually seen it, you were a natural Harry it was…it was…fantastic," she started to jig about again as she had done the earlier at the idea of spending the afternoon with a prehistoric skeleton.

"Thanks," he said again, his own thoughts jumping about in his brain just as Nikki was dancing about on the platform.

"No one else you know has ever seen you sing have they?"

Harry shook his head.

"I've stolen your singing virginity," she exclaimed loudly.

"Nikki!" Harry blushed but at that moment the metro arrived and they both bundled into the train.

"You should be proud Harry," she called across the midline of the carriage. It was only a couple of stops so each had hold of a bar on either side of the train. "The three of you are brilliant, the harmonies; that rich mix of voices. It's just a shame you didn't have your suits on."

He looked at her then, he could tell she was serious; she wasn't making fun of him, if anyone understood music it was her. Instead of the mocking look he had expected she had a look on her face he hadn't seen for a while. He looked away, suddenly he felt the evening had taken another dangerous turn, they had left the seedy bar and threatening street far behind and were only one stop away from his nearest metro stop, but the closer they got to his apartment the more his anxiety grew.

Miguel was on the door when they got back to his building.

"Hi, how'reyadoin'?" he said as they walked through the door. "Jorge do a good show?"

"The best!" replied Nikki enthusiastically.

Harry hardly stopped just bundled along towards the elevator.

"You'll be glad to know he's changed the song," Miguel called after them.

They waited in silence for the lift, Nikki had crossed her arms across her chest and Harry had his hands sunk in his pockets. Both were studying the floor intently. The easy laughter they had shared the night before waiting in the lobby was gone. Now even the air between them seemed to crackle with anticipation and neither was unaware of it.

They had to stand closer together in the lift. They both continued to find the floor fascinating. She'd caught his eye in the mirror as he waited to let her enter the lift first, but he had immediately dropped his gaze. They'd spent the last couple of days, holding hands, in each other's personal space and even in bed together but suddenly the confines of the lift seemed too small to fit them in and the great cloud of churning tension that surrounded them. At least they wouldn't have to listen to "One night with you," Nikki thought.

She took a quick look at Harry. He'd hardly looked her in the eye since they'd left the bar. She wasn't entirely sure why. He couldn't be embarrassed about his singing, so what had really changed? She looked back down to the floor and listened to what Elvis had to say today.

'_It's now or never,_

_Come hold me tight_

_Kiss me my darling,_

_Be mine tonight_

_Tomorrow will be too late,_

_It's now or never_

_My love won't wait.'_

Surely this song was even worse! Now she felt Harry look at her, felt it buffeting her with the power of a galeforce wind but she didn't dare meet his gaze. The previous night she had been the one to try and push the boundaries between them and Harry had held back. Tonight she wasn't sure who was in control of the brakes, after the song earlier she knew she wouldn't be. She was leaving in the morning. It really was now or never for her. She took the chance to look across at him, but this time his eyes were fixed to the floor, she could see his chest rising and falling quickly, his breathing was ragged. The lift stopped on the fourth floor the doors opened and closed slowly but no one got in. Elvis kept singing.

'_Your lips excite me,  
Let your arms invite me  
For who knows when  
Well meet again this way.'_

By the time the lift doors opened on the tenth floor and Harry and Nikki stepped out they were both shaking, neither had caught the other's eye again. Their mood when they had entered the lift had been of an impending storm, but by the time they'd reached the tenth floor the swirling of their emotions was closer to a tornado. The chairs opposite the lift were empty this evening Nikki noted and she stood for a second thinking about all Mrs Finkelstein had said the night before. The lift doors didn't shut straight away so she was left listening to the final line of the song once more.

'_Tomorrow will be too late,_

_It's now or never_

_My love won't wait.'_

She stumbled down the corridor after Harry, he had tried to make the key fit in the lock but the trembling in his hands making it almost impossible. Nikki put her hands over the top of his to steady them. The sudden contact discharged the static build-up of electricity between them just as a lightning bolt would rip through the atmosphere. Immediately Harry turned and looked at her.

"Nikki?" his voice rumbled; the desperation and desire evident in his eyes in equal measure. The key finally turned and they tumbled through the door in a jumble of bodies, hands and arms. Before she knew it they had both shucked their coats and she was pressed up against the wall Harry's mouth on hers and his hands in her hair.

"Do you want this?" she'd asked before she lost the power of logical thought.

"I have wanted this; I have wanted YOU for as long as I can remember," he growled between kisses.

As the door shut itself behind them they were plunged into darkness, but they didn't need light for what they were doing and the sound of Nikki's responses were enough to drive Harry on. Gasping for breath he pulled her with him to find a light switch. He paused momentarily in the bright light to look at her hands working away at the buttons on his shirt.

"This is a really bad idea," he said, his voice thick with emotion. But he kissed her again the moment he'd finished speaking. The word 'stay' returning to his consciousness as he felt Nikki's tongue find his.

"Mm hmm," she agreed, kissing him more fervently than before.

"You're leaving tomorrow," he said some time later leaning his forehead against hers, catching his breath and trailing his finger down the fabric of the v neckline of her dress.

"So?" she struggled out between a sigh.

"I don't want to make things worse," he stuttered between kisses along her jawline and nipping at her earlobe.

"Harry!" she gasped.

He pulled back then as if trying to remember something; something strangely familiar, something he'd heard before. But all he saw were her dilated eyes and eager stare. All his qualms, all his fears, all his excuses he pushed out his brain and surrendered to the sensory overload that he was experiencing.

She was perfect.

Beautiful.

She was kissing him.

She wanted him.

He had dreamed this very moment for so long.

"Nikki," he murmured pulling her even closer to him, running his finger-tips across her cheeks and over her lips.

"Kiss me again," she begged. "Harry," she continued her eyes imploring him as much as her words. "Please!"

He did as she asked and together they stumbled in the direction of his bedroom.

* * *

**It's Now or Never: Aaron Shroeder (Elvis)**

**Go on click the little button...you know you want to, and Elvis says 'you have to.' :)**


	49. Chapter 49 Or Never

**Just two today: we're nearly at the end of this bit but Part 3 is coming along nicely ;)**

* * *

**Chapter Forty Nine**

**Sunday 17****th**** March**

'**It's now OR NEVER,'**

They tumbled onto Harry's oversized bed, but the mood this evening was very different to the other nights when they had both occupied it.

"This bed really is enormous," Nikki laughed as she bent down to undo and remove her boots.

"Mmm," Harry said distractedly. "English king size and American king size not the same," he gasped kissing the back of her neck and pulling her back onto him. "Not much interested in bed sizes at the moment," he stuttered. But all the same he was aware that somehow the balance of power between them had shifted. He might have been the one to initiate that first kiss as they toppled through his front door but Nikki was certainly the one leading the show now. And the shift in focus had broken his concentration and had allowed all the doubts he'd succeeded in squashing earlier creep back into his head.

"Nikki?" he asked his voice quavering now. "What are we doing?" he echoed her words of earlier that very morning when he had brought her back to bed.

"I really thought," Nikki laughed, rolling him over and sitting astride his waist. "That when it came to it, you wouldn't need this bit explaining to you!" She leant forwards and kissed him, purposely pushing her breasts into his chest.

"Talk to me Nikki, Tell me this isn't just in my head; tell me THIS is real." He ran his hands up her dress along her back and down to her bottom.

"THIS has always been real."

"But before, you said…"

"I thought actions would speak louder than words," Nikki said quietly.

"Tell me how this could work?" he pleaded.

"Work? You left Harry, so whatever THIS is now, I'll be gone tomorrow," she uttered, flicking her hair out of her face.

"Then why have you been kissing me back?" he asked pushing her off him and biting his lip. "I told you yesterday that you are not some holiday entertainment or casual fling." He was still breathing heavily when he propped himself up on his elbow, looked back at her and added, "to say goodbye? You would do this to say goodbye?" His eyes wide, stunned by her audacity.

Nikki was staring at the ceiling but finally she turned to look at him.

"We don't say goodbye, remember." Her voice was low and steady. "I needed something." She reached forward and tried to kiss him again but he rolled away and turned his back on her and rubbed his face.

"It's now or never!" she challenged him her voice rising.

"I can't Nikki," he stopped to catch his thoughts, his breath and the remains of his sanity. He sat up dangled his legs over the edge of the bed. "These last six months I have tried to move on with my life, there's not much I feel I've achieved but I've taken a few steps. If I do this now I go right back to the start. I can't do this and pretend it means nothing, I don't know how you can even think to yourself that you can."

"Did you mean it?" she asked suddenly, and sat up on her side of the bed and dangled her legs over that side. The gulf between them much greater than just the distance across Harry's kingsize bed.

"Mean what?"

"The song you sang earlier with Jorge?"

"I can't help falling in love with you?" Harry asked his back still to her.

"That one."

Harry turned to look at her then or to look at her back, "Did YOU? When you wrote it in that guide book?"

"Yes," she said simply, staring down into her lap.

Harry started bunching his hands in and out of tight fists, he stood and began to pace about his room. "I think I've always been in love with you Nikki, but it doesn't mean anything now does it. You'll be gone tomorrow and nothing will change. You still don't want me really."

"How can you say that?" She cried and turned to face him the massive bed still between them.

"It's the reason I left in the first place, you always pushed me away!" he said viciously.

"I didn't push you away last night, I didn't push you away tonight," she replied breathily and crawled back onto the bed towards him. Somewhere deep in her brain she registered that Harry had finally told her his reason for leaving but she didn't know how he could think THAT was true. She didn't push him away! Here she was crawling across his bed and closer to him. He was the one with his back to her.

"No because somewhere in your head you've got it into your brain that THIS," he gestured wildly at the bed, "THIS would be an acceptable way to say goodbye."

She remained silent, still, staring at him; feeling every ounce of happiness that they had shared this weekend draining out of her. "It's not?" she asked.

"Nikki!" he shook his head but sat down on the bed and pulled her back into his arms, she didn't resist. "You are more important to me than that, you must realise that. You should value yourself more highly too without me having to tell you to."

"Do you have any idea how it feels when you don't…?" she asked with a hitch in her voice.

"Nikki, please!" He begged. "Can't you see it's because I care about you too much to have some stupid fling that will ruin our friendship forever?"

"Isn't a stupid fling better than no fling at all?" she asked.

"No Nikki, it's not," he replied. She pouted unconvinced.

"So what then?" she asked. Harry couldn't reply. One of the reasons he had never pushed things forward between them before was exactly because he didn't want to have conversations and arguments like this.

"We're not just friends though are we?" she added.

"No, we're not."

Nikki turned to look him in the eye again. "No girl wants to be a mind reader, Harry."

"We've never just been friends," he admitted. "But now it's REALLY complicated. I'm sorry Nikki. I didn't mean to turn this weekend into something terrible."

"This doesn't even come close to terrible!" she replied fastening a couple of the buttons on his shirt she had undone earlier.

He shook his head morosely.

"So what is it then? We agree we're in love and I disappear in the morning back to London and we never see each other again?"

"No!" Harry exclaimed. Why did history repeat itself? He wondered. Why in his life did everyone he ever got close to, the minute he finally thought he may have found happiness, why in that very moment did they disappear out of his life without a backwards look? Rebecca, Anna, Leyla. Maybe he couldn't count Leyla he had never really been in love with Leyla. But there were others. The list seemed endless. He wouldn't add Nikki to that list. He couldn't. She was too special. He had no answer so he remained silent, watching her fingers as they redressed him.

"So after nearly ten years together we agree that we're in love but we're not going to do anything about it," she stated having thought some more as she had done up his buttons. "It's not like I can stay…" and immediately the words were out of her mouth she saw the change in Harry's eyes. "Oh, Harry! You weren't really thinking that I would stay were you? This is your life Harry. It's not mine. What would I do? I can't work here, I've got no work permit, this is not my home. What were you thinking?"

Harry nodded sadly in agreement. She was right of course but there was still a small part of his brain that whirled on telling him that he would be able to find an immigration lawyer, someone would find a way to get her the right papers. He would get her a job at NYU, they could sponsor her for a visa. Were the spouses of workers on his kind of visa allowed to work? He wasn't sure. He'd be happy to marry her. No they weren't he remembered, he'd probably be married to Leyla if they could. He realised his brain was racing away and looked back at beautiful woman in front of him, the more than friend and the lover that would never be his.

"Don't ever give up," she said in response to his long face.

"What?" Harry asked.

"It's what Mrs Finkelstein said to me last night. Never give up on faith or love. She's an interesting woman you should take the time to talk to her."

Harry nodded and they sat together in uneasy silence for a while.

"I'll sleep on the sofa tonight Nikki, it'll be for the best," Harry said sadly.

"I'll fit better, you take the bed. You've got work in the morning. And if I wake up early again, I'll not disturb you."

"You sure?"

"Course. I mean I'd be happy to share the bed but…"

Harry looked at her; even now she could be as practical as ever. "I don't think so," he said.

"You don't trust me," she quipped but her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Of course I trust you Nikki, just after everything…"

"Harry it's fine," she said squeezing one of his hands.

"Thank you," he said simply.

"Night Harry. Thanks for letting me come."

He raised an eyebrow then at the possible double entendre. "I didn't," he tried to laugh but only because it was better than the proverbial alternative.

Nikki shook her head, but he noted she didn't laugh either.

"My mother sent you," he finished.

She kissed his cheek delicately. "You were amazing tonight. I'm glad you've found something you love."

"I have," Harry replied without taking his eyes from hers and then pulling her to him for a final hug and kissing the top of her head. "Sleep well," he said, "there's a sleeping bag under the desk,"

"You sure you won't change your mind?" she asked as she walked out of the bathroom.

"Good night Nikki,"

"Night Harry."

* * *

**It's Now or Never: Aaron Shroeder (Elvis)**

**I know most of you will hate me, but it had to be done… And I'm not the only one thinking this KiwiSWfan was right there with me, she knew it was all going to go pear shaped. Congrats to her and thanks again all of you for reading and reviewing. Just in case there's some JAG fandom-ers out there, I'm sure I've snuck a JAG line in here, extra kudos if you spot it.**


	50. Chapter 50 Tomorrow Will Be Too Late

**Chapter Fifty**

**Monday 18****th**** March**

**Tomorrow will be too late**

Nikki's plane was mid-afternoon departure so there was time in the morning to go to NYU and check out Harry's office. Harry had been intending to show his mother around, but now it was Nikki and not his mother he wasn't quite sure what they would do. She had said she'd take the airport bus back to save him the journey and so she would leave by 11 before his first seminar.

He wasn't sure how anything would be after the night before. There was a large part of him which was satisfied that between them they had made the sensible decision and stopped what they were doing before they were beyond the point of no return. She was leaving; they lived 3000 miles apart what hope had they for any kind of relationship? And he was smart enough to know that despite Nikki's cavalier attitude to taking men home with her, she wouldn't have brushed off last night as easily as some of her other unsuitables, as easily as she had pretended to. Well at least he hoped she wouldn't.

He did feel for her though, from what he had seen and their little talk once upon a time about 'the goodies,' for Nikki his not sleeping with her would register as a double rejection. She wasn't in control for once and she didn't get what she wanted. He knew she hated both. She had called him on the inconsistency of his behaviour a couple of days before and she had been right of course. Any other girl he had spent the day with as he had her, and had such a terrific time with would have lost her underwear somewhere between the front door and the sofa. So what was his problem when it came to Nikki?

She was offering him a night of sex and he had turned it down, turned her down. How much humiliation and pain could she withstand he wondered before she shut the door on him once and for all. But he didn't want one night of sex, he had thought he'd made that clear but maybe she hadn't understood. He didn't want to have sex with Nikki, he wanted to make love to her and not just for one night.

He scrubbed his hand over his face and into his hair and climbed out of the bed. He knew she wouldn't stay, she couldn't stay and he couldn't go back. So what were they supposed to do?

"I've made the tea," he heard her call out from the kitchen and he crumpled back to sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. Last night feeling his hands and legs trembling, his body on fire with desire he didn't think he could possibly love anyone else more and yet the thought of her sat in his kitchen with a cup of tea, having made one for him and sniffing the cereal boxes suspiciously was almost as overwhelming.

"You been up long?" he called back as casually as he could.

"I didn't sleep that well," Nikki admitted as he walked into the kitchen, sat opposite her and took a mouthful of tea. Despite the light words between them one look at her confirmed his suspicion that she had slept as poorly as he had.

"Sorry, I should have had the sofa."

"I'm not sure it was the sofa's fault," Nikki replied.

"Sorry," he said again and took her hand.

"We have to stop Harry." She said bluntly.

"Stop?"

"Yes, stop. We're not helping ourselves. You live in New York, I live in London; choices have been made, decisions taken. We have to stop and move on; we can't keep doing what we're doing. It's not getting us anywhere."

He looked up at her wordlessly but the question why covered his features. It was what he had feared ever since waking, that this final humiliation would be the last straw.

"You know why," she answered repeating his words of Saturday.

"You're right," he said casually stroking her thumb with his, relieved that she hadn't torn her hand away, that there was still a bridge left between them. Still one point of contact.

"I know," she said sipping her tea to stop the tears from spilling down her face.

"We'll move on, get passed this."

"We will," she agreed.

"If you take a cab to the airport you could sit in on my seminar this morning. I'll give you the money."

"What's it on?"

"Dynamics of retroviruses, I'd value your input. Your recent first-hand experience with anthrax would be fascinating and you could show the students how debating a problem can lead to further understanding."

She paused and stared at him, "You want me to argue with you in one of your seminars?"

"That's not what I said," Harry stated but he was so relieved that they had found something to talk about, something they could agree on, even if it was an agreement to argue. It was another connection between them that was still functioning.

"That's what I heard!" Nikki smiled. "Bring it on!"

She munched her cereal for a while. Harry just stuck to the tea.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure this is the best cereal they can come up with?"

"It is awful isn't it? I could have taken that apartment without the kitchen after all; I usually just grab a bagel on the way to work!"

"Now you tell me!"

"So I've been eating up your leftovers?"

"I thought Mum might like them."

Nikki rolled her eyes at him.

"Bagel on the way to the office?" he offered.

"I thought you'd never ask," she said.

* * *

**It's now or never: Aaron Schroeder (Elvis)**


	51. Chapter 51 The Last Farewell

**Chapter Fifty-One**

**Monday 18****th**** March**

'**For you are beautiful and I have loved you dearly, more dearly than the spoken word can tell,'**

Harry's office had been just as he'd described it, a mass of cubicles that stretched across the large featureless room. She didn't quite see it as the jungle he'd described but maybe that was the people and not the furniture. It was still quiet this early in the morning.

"Where does Randy sit?" she hissed.

"Nikki!" he chided. On Friday night she had pretended to be his sister in an attempt to not cause trouble during her visit. He really didn't want her anywhere near most of his colleagues just in case in the light of recent developments she had changed her mind about the causing trouble part.

"Morning Ruby, good weekend?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you Harry. Yours?" she looked up from her computer then. "She is not your mother!" she said accusingly.

"No, an old work colleague…a good friend…a really good friend. Ruby; this is Dr Nikki Alexander of the Thomas Lyell Centre in London."

"Hi Ruby," Nikki said stretching her hand out to the older woman's.

"I thought your mother was coming?" Ruby asked.

"She changed her mind," Harry said offhandedly. Meanwhile Nikki had noticed a postcard pinned to the Ruby's workstation amongst a selection of childrens' paintings and timetables.

"Pleased to meet you," Ruby replied, shaking Nikki's outstretched hand.

"The card: it's Matisse's 'Joy of Life.'" Nikki stated.

"That? Harry gave it to me. A thank you card after Thanksgiving," Ruby said following her gaze.

"Our old boss had a copy on his wall," Nikki said.

Ruby nodded wisely. "It's good to meet you, hon. Has Harry been looking after you? I hope he showed you the sights."

"Yes, I've had a terrific time; he's been a good host."

"I'm glad to hear it because sometimes he just doesn't…" Ruby paused unsure of how to verbalise what she was thinking.

"Sometimes…"

"Sometimes he's Harry," Nikki suggested meeting the other woman's eyes.

"Exactly!" Ruby replied and smiled.

Their conversation was broken by the clacking sound of high heels getting closer and Ruby hurriedly shuffled some papers and tried to look busier.

"Harry!" called a voice from a cubicle and a half away.

Harry pulled a face at Nikki and Ruby, but Ruby was too busy shuffling papers to notice.

"Harry!" the voice said again. "I've been called out to a meeting in DC this afternoon; will you take my place on the finance committee at 12 please?" The demand uttered, the woman stopped to take in Nikki, her eyes resting on her visitor's badge. "Who?" she asked brusquely.

"Candy, this is Dr Nikki Alexander from the Lyell Centre in London."

"Professor Brown," Nikki beamed with as much of a pleasant smile she could muster in the presence of this harridan and offered her hand.

"What's she doing here?" Candy asked; ignoring Nikki's outstretched hand.

"I've been visiting Harry for the weekend. We used to work together."

"Oh yes, Cunningham-Alexander and Alexander-Cunnigham. The two of you have co-authored an impressive number of papers. Didn't you even collaborate with Harry on his last publication?"

"I told him he didn't need to credit me," Nikki began but was interrupted.

"I was hoping Nikki could sit in on my seminar this morning, she has some first-hand knowledge of retroviruses that would be interesting for the class…" Harry came to a stop as Candy fixed him with a hard stare.

"I read your "Virulence and hyphal formation of Candida Albicans, protein kinase" paper." Nikki interjected. Which just caused the hard stare to shift in focus from Harry to Nikki.

"What would a Home Office Pathologist need to know about hyphal formation?" Candy asked.

"Candida Albicans is the most prevalent opportunistic fungal infection in humans," Nikki replied.

"It's not likely to kill someone though," Candy said frostily.

"In immuno-suppressed patients…" Nikki began but felt Harry's hand on her arm, so stopped.

Candy had also noticed Harry's touch.

"I'm not sure I can take your place on the finance committee, I was going to take Nikki to the airport."

Candy tutted and rolled her eyes. "It's not an opportunity everyone gets!" she said as if sitting in on some meeting for her was a privilege. "And you're only old colleagues."

Nikki looked up at Harry, they hadn't talked about him coming to the airport, she was taking a cab. The last airport goodbye they'd had, had been a spectacular debacle. She had no desire to repeat the ordeal. She might end up eating over-sweetened ice cream in McDonald's again.

"JFK?" Candy asked.

Nikki looked from Candy to Harry in utter confusion; this woman wasn't a snake or a feared water buffalo or even an annoying yeast infection. She was a dragon.

"No she's flying out of LaGuardia."

"Oh that's easy then, so am I. I need to be there by 12:30, you can come with me if you want and then Harry will be free to attend the meeting. His seminar will finish at 11.45. I'll meet you outside." And with that she turned and walked away, the terror of the encounter lasting long after the noise of her heels had died away.

"So that was Candy!" Nikki said.

Ruby pretended to shiver and looked up at them. "Did you really read her paper?" she asked Nikki.

"Oh yes," Nikki replied happily. "I wanted to fill Harry in on the details; he couldn't access it on the database here."

Ruby looked up questioningly at Harry.

"Know your enemy?" he said with a shrug.

The forty-five minutes of the seminar went quickly. The students were attentive but not transfixed. One or two had looked positively nervous when Harry and Nikki had begun to take different sides of the question to debate it through and tease out the facts. Even Nikki reigned in her position and took a more gentle approach. If they'd really debated the way they used to she had the feeling that one of the students would have called security. It wouldn't do to let the debate turn into a fight, under the current circumstances there was no knowing what direction that would take them in and it could turn ugly very quickly and it certainly didn't need an audience. The students collected their belongings and shuffled away nervously at the end of the lesson.

"I liked what you did," one of the students said to Nikki as the others filed out of the room. "I think the Professor finds it frustrating sometimes that we're not able to ask questions like that so quickly, I'm getting better. He was different today," she said nodding in Harry's direction; he was piling papers into his bag.

"Different?"

The student just shrugged. "You know; different."

Nikki didn't know, but she wasn't going to be enlightened, the girl had moved off. "Thank's Professor."

"You're welcome Chantelle," Harry answered. "See you on Thursday."

"Bye."

"So that's NYU," Harry said.

"Chantelle's nice," Nikki replied. "How on earth do they manage on these seats?"

Nikki gestured to the wooden chairs with the half desk built into the arm rest.

"They're not left-hander friendly," Harry agreed.

The door to the seminar room opened and Candy stood in the entranceway.

"Harry, that meeting starts soon. Are you ready to go Dr Alexander?"

Nikki picked up her bag and turned to Harry. They both heard Candy tut and close the door on them.

"I've had a brilliant time Harry, thanks for looking after me."

"It's been a pleasure. I've loved having you here." He kissed her on the cheek and took hold of her hands.

Candy opened the door again.

"I hope you have a good flight, can you check on Mum and make sure she's ok?" Harry continued without turning to look in Candy's direction.

"Of course Harry, I'll call you later."

"Thanks."

"I did mean it though."

"What?" asked Harry suddenly confused. They had said so much this weekend. What exactly was she referring to?

"About stopping."

"Mmm," he replied uncertainly.

"Dr Alexander!" Candy barked.

Nikki released the grip on Harry's hands and walked backwards towards the door, her eyes not leaving his.

"Sundays at one?" Harry asked.

"Goodbye, Harry." Nikki replied.

Harry's eyes shifted to the size of saucers.

"Nikki?" he stammered.

"It's time Harry." Nikki affirmed.

"Too right," interrupted Candy, that meeting starts in ten minutes Harry!

"But… but…I'm…"

"You were the one who left Harry. I'm just going home. I'll let you know how your mum is. Bye Harry."

* * *

**The Last Farewell: Whittaker and Webster (Elvis) **

**Virulence and hyphal formation of Candida Albicans requires the Ste20p-like protein kinase CaCla4p. Ekkehard Leberer, Zarl Ziegelbauer, Axel Schmidt, Doreen Harcus, Daniel Dignard, Josee Ash, Lynne Johnson and David Y Thomas.**

**Don't ask…I don't know either…**


	52. Chapter 52 Taught Me How To Love

**Chapter Fifty Two**

**Monday 18****th**** March**

'**You taught me how to love and now you say that we are through,'**

Harry was frozen to the spot. He couldn't believe what he had heard. She had said goodbye. She was leaving him?

No he'd left.

He'd left her six months ago, or he'd tried to.

She was ending things after everything that had happened or nearly happened this weekend?

What was going on? They'd never had the airport goodbye when he left after that dreadful traffic jam, but this? This was far worse and he wasn't even the one leaving.

He'd always been aware that she was the control freak, but having the tables turned on him had exposed just how much he too actually liked to be the one in the driving seat.

"I'll talk to you soon," he faltered, his whole body appearing to crumple.

Candy grabbed hold of Nikki's jacket and pulled her from the room.

"I thought he said you were old colleagues." She hissed as they half ran up the corridor. Candy's heels clicking at double time.

"We were." Nikki replied.

"What did you do to him?" she demanded. They'd stopped momentarily to pull open some double doors.

"Me?" said Nikki. "I didn't do anything. I only said goodbye." They continued out into the parking lot and stood waiting for the car that was scheduled to pick Candy up.

"But he looked as if he'd just been told he'd got days to live!" Candy narrowed her eyes at Nikki. If there was one thing Candy knew it was power, she loved it, craved it and did anything to achieve it. She had successfully outsmarted most of her new employees, found out what made them tick. Found their weakness, but she knew she had yet to crack Harry. And yet this skinny, pale faced, English blonde had floored him and seemingly with the word 'goodbye.' Maybe she had something to learn from her after all.

Nikki shrugged. She'd managed to get the words out, but now it was done she could feel her legs beginning to wobble but she wouldn't let Candy see.

"It's not even as if you're his significant other!" Candy continued.

No, thought Nikki, not in any widely understood definition of the term. No she wasn't. Had she done the right thing? Six months ago they had sat in her kitchen and promised to stay friends and move on with their lives. They hadn't, this weekend had made it abundantly clear; they weren't friends; they weren't even the very best friends. They were lovers and nothing they did seemed to change that. But if they were still lovers then moving on was impossible? He lived here, she lived in London. New York was fun for the weekend but she wasn't prepared to make it her home. There was too much of it that terrified her. She'd already left one country and immersed herself in another. She couldn't do it again; she just didn't have the energy.

The car arrived; Candy climbed in but before Nikki could bend her head to climb into the car she heard the doors of the building behind them open and felt herself pulled back. One arm round her waist, one round her neck and shoulder. She didn't need to scream, she knew exactly who it was. He spun her around in his arms and held her tight, squeezing her to him like a man clinging to a life ring. Before Candy had time to growl at him again he kissed her gently and looked into her eyes. She could see him trying to form the words to say goodbye but nothing came out. Her own eyes were full of tears now.

"Don't be sorry Harry; I've had a fabulous time. Thank you."

"Me too," he agreed. He hugged her again quickly "I love you," he said quietly so that Candy wouldn't hear. "Now and then, there's a fool such as I," he stated clearly looking deep into her eyes and then set off at a run in the direction of his meeting.

Candy pulled Nikki into the car, but Nikki continued to stare out of the window long after Harry and NYU had disappeared. "You don't want to miss your flight now," she said unsympathetically.

The journey to the airport had been quick and uneventful and Nikki found herself with time to waste having cleared security. Wherever she looked she could see the golden arches of the McDonald's logo but they were advertising free wi fi so she bought herself a coffee with the handful of change Harry had thrust at her that morning and pulled out her phone for the first time in days. She was sure that Harry's last words had meant something more, something he didn't want Candy to know and something only she would understand.

She was pleased she was going home. She was exhausted; she hadn't slept at all the night before. She hadn't been able to face going out to the chairs by the lift just in case Mrs Finkelstein joined her again. She really didn't want to have that conversation with her however fascinating and insightful an old lady she was. She knew the answers. She didn't need anyone to tell her those. It was the questions she still had a problem with.

She wanted to be back in her own house, in her own office with Leo and Jack and Clarissa. She wanted to go home. She wasn't sure what she was going to tell his mother, she still wasn't sure if his mother had planned the trip all along. There were so many questions just not many practical solutions.

She googled Elvis and 'Now and then' and the rest of Harry's words popped up as a suggestion. She clicked on the song lyrics and felt the tears prickle as soon as she read the first line. She looked up, there were plenty of people in the small restaurant, many eating ice cream; only a few of them were smiling.

"He will come back, he always comes back," a little girl in another airport McDonald's had assured her when Harry first left for New York. But Nikki had left him now. Did that nullify the promise? Had she told him not to come back? Is that how he would understand her actions of today? Nikki wasn't sure. There was still a chance wasn't there? If he really loved her like he said he did. He would come back for her? Did she want him to? She looked back at the search results on her phone to see if Elvis held the answer again. So he would love her, but was he ever coming back?

_Pardon me, if I'm sentimental  
When we say goodbye  
Don't be angry with me should I cry  
When you're gone, yet I'll dream  
A little dream as years go by  
Now and then there's a fool such as I_

_Now and then there's a fool such as I am over you_  
_You taught me how to love_  
_And now you say that we are through_  
_I'm a fool, but I'll love you dear_  
_Until the day I die_  
_Now and then there's a fool such as I._

* * *

**Had to give Elvis the last word!**

**Now and Then There's a Fool such as I: Bill Trader (Elvis)**

**So that's the end of Part 2. I also pinched an X files line in this one. Freya82 won the prize last time for spotting the JAG one. Any takers? And a reference to Bloodlines, oh games a plenty… Part 3 is nearly finished so watch out for it in a couple of weeks or so. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed, I appreciate every one and continued best wishes for all doing exams or for those reading this when the exams are finally over.**


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